


Love Live! Sunshine!! Shipping Anthology

by AlexIsOkay



Category: Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2018-12-16 11:02:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 36
Words: 36,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11827392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexIsOkay/pseuds/AlexIsOkay
Summary: I have a list of every single Aqours ship and a random number generator and I'm here to write oneshots for all of them (except Ruby/Dia, but I might do some cute sister fluff when those two come up). Let's go on this journey of rarepair discovery together.





	1. Kanan/You

“C’mon! That was two seconds slower than your last lap! I know you can do better than this!”

“Cut me some slack! I’ve been going at this for almost an hour!” You’s voice was noticeably out of breath as she hung on to the edge of the pool, craning her neck up to look at Kanan.

“You didn’t ask me to come here and time you so I could cut you some slack,” Kanan replied, wagging a finger back down at You as she spoke. “You asked me to come here so you can improve. And you won’t get any better if I’m not pushing you!”

“You could still at least give me a minute to rest,” You groaned, slumping down more in the pool. She let her head dip under the water for a moment, wisps of brown hair the only things remaining above the surface. It only lasted for a few seconds, though, and shortly thereafter she was breaking up through the surface again, gasping for air.

“If that was your attempt to run away from me you didn’t plan very far ahead, did you?” Kanan teased. All You could really do in response was pout, sticking her lower lip out in an extremely exaggerated fashion.

“C’mon, just a quick break?” she insisted. “Five minutes?”

“Hmm,” Kanan hummed, putting a finger to her chin and tilting her head thoughtfully. She seemed to consider the plea for just a moment, before shaking her head. “Nope! But I will give you some motivation to keep going. Stay here.” That sparked You’s curiosity, and with her arms now hanging off the lane divider to keep herself afloat she watched as her girlfriend walked around the edge of the pool, making her way over to the far side. Kanan eventually came to stand at the opposite end of the lane, looking at You across the entire length of the pool. From there she crouched down, lowering herself into a push-up position with her fingers curled over the edge of the concrete, and her head stretched out just past the edge.

“Alright!” she called out, glancing down at the stopwatch that she had precariously wedged in between her thumb and forefinger, all while maintaining her plank. “Beat your time getting over here and you’ll get a kiss for it. But don’t expect me to wait around for you if you take too long!” Kanan’s plan to make her swim faster brought a little grin to You’s face. It was dorky, yeah, but… Well, they were a couple of dorks. So it was fitting.

“Okay!” she called back. “Get that timer ready, ‘cause here I come!” Without any other warning she pushed her feet against the wall and launched into her lap, disappearing under the water entirely for the first quarter before breaking back through the surface. From there her arms churned through the water at an alarming rate, splashing into both of the lanes beside her as she tore down the center of the pool. Even Kanan, who had seen You swim plenty of times before, had to admit that she was a little surprised by just how well that motivation had actually worked.

As You finally reached the end of the pool where Kanan was waiting for her, her head practically shot up out of the water to claim the kiss that she had been promised. The only problem was that, without appropriate time to slow down, it ended up being less of a kiss and more of a full speed facial collision, one that sent You recoiling backwards into the water, and that knocked Kanan right out of her push-up position and flat onto her stomach.

“Owww,” You groaned, scrunching up her face and rubbing her nose, before looking over to her girlfriend. “You okay?”

“Maybe we didn’t think that one through all the way,” Kanan confessed, twisting herself around into a sitting position on edge of the pool and letting her legs dip into the water. She grabbed the stopwatch from where it had landed, looking down at the readout before grinning. “You made great time though. One point seven seconds faster.”

“Really?” You asked excitedly, swimming back up to the edge. “Let me see!”

“Hey, hold on!” Kanan protested, moving to hold the stopwatch closer to her chest. You, understandably, immediately found that suspicious, and she only doubled down on trying to pry it away from her girlfriend, climbing halfway out of the pool in order to do so.

“C’mon, just show me!” she insisted, eventually managing to wrest it free from Kanan’s grip. She looked down at the screen, before a frown crossed over her face. “Hey, what gives? You didn’t even time that one.”

“Alright, alright, you caught me,” Kanan admitted, flashing another cheesy grin back towards You in response. “I guess I just wanted an excuse to kiss you.”

“You could’ve just said so instead of making me work for it like that,” You huffed, letting herself flop backwards so that she landed on her back on the surface of the water, floating there lazily.

“Oh yeah?” Kanan replied. “And what kind of coach would I be if I did that?”


	2. Dia/Riko

The garden at the center of the Kurosawa manor was mostly quiet. The only sounds came from the buzzing of cicadas, the soft babble of water running down into the pond, and the twanging of yamatogoto strings. Dia’s fingers moved deftly between them, striking each note with perfect time, while the girl herself knelt behind the instrument with her eyes shut, not even needing to look in order to know what she was doing. In fact, she found it easier this way.

Kneeling on the grass just across from her was Riko, an awed expression on her face as she watched her girlfriend play. While she had been dating Dia for around a month now, and had known her a fair bit longer, she had never actually gotten to see this before. Ruby had been the first one to mention it, actually, making an offhand comment about Dia playing the yamatogoto in Riko’s presence. As a fellow instrumentalist it had immediately sparked Riko’s interest, and after a bit of pestering and pleading, Dia had eventually agreed to play for her the next time Riko came by her home.

And now that Riko was getting her private concert, she was positively captivated. There were a lot of words that she would use to describe Dia. Serious. Stern. Passionate. Calm, however, was not one that ever would have come to mind. At the moment, though, it seemed to fit Dia perfectly. She looked so at ease while her fingers danced across the strings, so relaxed, so at peace. For someone who was normally so uptight, it was nice to see her letting some of that stress out for a change.

Eventually the song came to an end, and with a few more notes Dia’s fingers came to a stop. She sat there perfectly still for a moment before her eyes opened up, falling on Riko as the younger girl simply stared back. She knew that now was the appropriate time to say something, but she found herself at a loss for words, and it was Dia that ended up breaking the silence.

“Well?” she asked, her normal sense of sternness returning to her voice almost immediately now that she was done playing, mixed with just a hint of what seemed like it might have been mild embarrassment. “What did you think?”

“I- That was amazing!” Riko blurted out, realizing that her silence may have come across as rude, and being eager to correct that. Dia, however, in an uncharacteristic moment of bashfulness, just shook her head, looking back down at the instrument before her.

“It’s not that impressive,” she insisted. “I’ve been playing my whole life. I should expect to be decent at it by now.”

“Still…” Riko insisted. “I’ve been playing piano my whole life and I still struggle sometimes. But that was amazing...” Riko went silent for a moment at that point, mouth twisting itself into a thoughtful curl before she spoke up again. “What would you think about talking to Chika-chan about this?”

“Huh?” Dia responded, looking back up at Riko and tilting her head to the side. “About what?”

“About having you play this,” Riko explained. “For a new song.” The suggestion immediately seemed to put Dia on the defensive. She recoiled away from Riko, putting her arms up as if that would somehow protect her from the idea.

“D-Don’t be ridiculous!” she protested. “That wouldn’t fit at all! Traditional instruments have no place in idol music!”

“They could,” Riko rebuked, the composer portion of her brain already starting to kick into action as she began to consider every possible way that such an instrument could be utilized. “It would work with a slower song, or maybe as an instrumental solo part way through something more energetic and upbeat. People wouldn’t expect something like that, and the surprise could create a really good response.”

“But if we did that, then-!”

“Then…?” Riko asked.

“Then I would have to play in front of everyone else too!” Dia blurted out, which caused a small frown to cross over Riko’s face.

“Is that why you’re against it?” she asked, prompting a slight nod from Dia. “You never really seemed like the sort of person to care about something like that…”

“That’s because this is different than everything else,” Dia insisted. “Singing and dancing in front of everyone else is one thing, but this is… This is personal!” Riko’s frown deepened a little more at that point, and after a moment of quiet hesitation she leaned forward, reaching out across the yamatogoto to place a hand on top of Dia’s.

“I can promise you they’d all love it,” she said softly. “You-chan would probably be excited to make new costumes that match the traditional aesthetic. Chika-chan would just be excited to try something new. And… Ruby-chan would love to see her big sister sharing something like that with the rest of us…”

“...Fine,” Dia said, wincing a bit at the thought. She was still clearly reluctant, but Riko had a feeling she would warm up to the idea in time, and that brought a smile to her face.

“This will be fun,” she promised, giving Dia’s hand a small squeeze. “Everyone else will love it,” she repeated.

“They’d better!” Dia huffed in response. “I don’t play like this for just anyone, you know.”

“Yeah,” Riko replied, unable to stop herself from laughing softly at that. “I know.”


	3. Hanamaru/Riko

Riko ran her finger along the spine of the dusty old books that lined the shelves, breathing in the smell of old paper and listening to the creak of floorboards underneath her as she walked down the aisle. It was funny- to all of the other girls, Numazu was the big city. But after living in Tokyo, this hardly felt like anything to her. And when places like this tiny, cramped little secondhand bookshop existed, she didn’t understand how it could feel massive to anyone. Then again, if there was a single person who would be able to find a store like this in the middle of a big city, it would be Hanamaru. Speaking of which…

“Maru-chan?” Riko called out. She kept her voice relatively soft, not wanting to disturb the peace and quiet of the store too much, but it carried well enough that she was met with a response a moment later.

“Over here!” Riko smiled at the sound of her girlfriend’s voice from the next aisle over. She walked down to the end of the shelf, rounding the corner and nearly jumping out of her skin when she saw Hanamaru. Or rather, the easily four foot high stack of books with legs that she assumed was Hanamaru.

“You’re seriously getting all of those?” Riko blurted out.

“Zura?” Hanamaru’s voice responded, and a moment later her head peaked out from around the tower, a curious look on her face. “Do you think it’s too many?”

“Well… How do you expect to get those all back to Uchiura?” Riko pointed out. “There’s no way you can carry them around the city for the rest of the day.” Hanamaru looked thoughtful at that, although it was a sad sort of thoughtful, the type that made it seem like she knew Riko was right but was reluctant to admit it.

“How am I supposed to narrow it down?” Hanamaru asked, looking back up at her tower with awe. “They all look so interesting, zura…”

“I’ll help,” Riko sighed, knowing that was the only way they were getting out of here any time soon. As she walked closer and got a better look at the spines and covers of the books Hanamaru was holding, she started to see just how diverse the collection was. Something that looked like a fantasy novel, a history book about the Meiji Restoration period, a romance novel or two, even a book about computers that looked like it couldn’t possibly have been written after 1995. At least Hanamura was trying, though.

“Put the books down. We’ll sort through them,” Riko said, prompting a nod from Hanamaru before the other girl hunched over, setting the stack on the floor and crouching down next to it. Riko crouched beside Hanamaru in turn, starting to sort through the tower.

“How many do you think I should limit myself to?” Hanamaru asked. “Ten?” Riko’s suggestion would have been something more like three, but she knew that talking Hanamaru down that far would basically be impossible. Ten was already a marked improvement over however many they had in front of them at the moment.

“That sounds like a good number,” Riko agreed. “I can help you carry them if you need.” She reached out, picking the computer book off the stack and holding up. “First off, why this?” Hanamaru looked a little embarrassed to be asked that question, pressing her fingertips together and looking down at the floor.

“Everyone else knows a lot more about this future stuff than me, zura…” she mumbled. Riko couldn’t stop herself from smiling a little bit at that, setting the book off to the side.

“That book is twenty years out of date, Maru-chan. If you’re really interested in this we can find you something more current back in Uchiura, okay?” Hanamaru gave a small nod, and Riko reached for the next book on the stack. “Is this… A book for learning English?”

“I wanna know what Mari-senpai’s saying all the time,” Hanamaru said in response, narrowing her eyes and dropping her voice down to an almost conspiratorial whisper. “I don’t trust her.” Riko couldn’t stop herself from chuckling at that, and she couldn’t really bring herself to disagree with that line of reasoning either. So, she set the book down in the keepers pile.

Things progressed on like this for the next couple of minutes, with Riko sorting through the books Hanamaru had picked out one at a time, forcing Hanamaru to evaluate whether they were  _ really _ worth getting. It took some time, and a bit of debating, but eventually they managed to narrow it down to only eleven books (one more than Riko had agreed on, but screw it, she didn’t want to be stuck here all day).

“Alright, I think we’ve got it,” Riko said, looking back and forth between the “buy” pile and the considerably larger “don’t buy” pile. “Are you ready?”

“Mhmm,” Hanamaru said, nodding in agreement. She was just about to stand up before something came to mind, and she turned her attention back to Riko. “Are you getting anything?”

“M-Me?” Riko asked, immediately seeming far more flustered than she should have by such an innocent question. Her cheeks went red, and she glanced down at the single book that she had tucked into the outer pocket of her bag while walking around earlier. “I- J-Just one thing!”

“Really? What is it? Let me see!” Hanamaru insisted, immediately reaching out in an attempt to snatch the book away.

“It’s nothing! Don’t worry about!” Riko responded, twisting her torso around to try to keep the bag, and in turn the book, away from Hanamaru. Her girlfriend wasn’t going to be so easily thwarted, though.

“It’s not anything dirty, is it zura?” Hanamaru asked, still trying to reach past Riko and dig into her bag.

“Of course not!” Riko blurted out, face going even redder at that point. “It’s nothing like that!”

“Then let me see!” Hanamaru practically launched herself towards Riko at that point, throwing her full (admittedly tiny) body weight towards the slightly taller girl. Her girlfriend managed to step out of the way just in time, but while this protected Riko herself, it did result in Hanamaru shooting past her… And right into the two piles of books they had just spent so long organizing. Hanamaru hit the floor with a dull crash, scattering books everywhere and doing an effective job of mixing the piles up beyond recognition. She sat back up with a groan a moment later, wincing and rubbing her arms where they had hit the floor before looking around at the chaos she had caused.

“Oh… I guess we have to start over, zura,” she murmured.

“...It’s fine,” Riko replied, sighing and shutting her eyes as she stuffed her own book even deeper down into her bag. “I’ll help you buy them all. Just stop asking questions.”


	4. Dia/Kanan

“I told you, I’m not touching it!”

“Oh c’mon, why not? It’s kinda cute, don’t you think?”

“There’s nothing cute about that- that  _ thing _ !”

“Ohh, I see,” Kanan said, smirking lightly and tapping a finger against her chin. “You’re scared, aren’t you?”

“I am not!” Dia insisted, eye twitching at the accusation. “I just don’t want to!”

“It’s just a sea cucumber, Dia. It’s not like it’s gonna hurt you or anything.”

“Well if you’re so enthusiastic about this then you do it!”

“Alright!” Kanan replied, grinning as she stepped closer to the aquarium’s touch tank, leaning over the edge before she dipped her hand into the water. She stretched two fingers out, running them lightly along the slightly bumpy surface of the creature. It reacted to her touch, squirming and contorting slightly on the bottom of the tank. Kanan grinned in delight. Dia was retching.

“See?” Kanan asked. “I told you they don’t bite. Now it’s your turn.”

“I agreed to no such deal!” Dia protested. “It was your decision to touch that monster. Don’t drag me into this!”

“Hey, don’t call it a monster,” Kanan said, pouting back at Dia. “You’ll hurt it’s feelings.” With that said she reached out towards her girlfriend, wiping her fingers across Dia’s forehead. The only thing on them was water from the tank, and the sea cucumber hadn’t left any sort of slime or residue, but that didn’t matter to Dia. The moment she felt something wet against her face she was utterly repulsed, jumping away from Kanan and immediately setting about furiously wiping it off.

“What the hell??” she demanded, glaring back at Kanan. “That was disgusting!”

“Oh my god,” Kanan laughed, rolling her eyes. “It was just water. Y’know, for someone who acts so mature you can be a real baby sometimes.”

“That’s not true!”

“Oh yeah?” she asked, devious smirk returning to her face. “Prove me wrong then. Touch it.”

“...Fine!” Dia huffed. “If it’ll get you to shut up about this I’ll do it!”

“Great! Gimme your hand.” Kanan reached out as she said that, holding her own hand out towards Dia. Dia looked back her at her for a moment before reluctantly pushing her hand into Kanan’s, huffing and scowling as she did so. Just because she was doing this didn’t mean that she had to enjoy it.

“Now c’mere,” Kanan urged, tugging Dia a little bit closer to the tank. Dia made a halfhearted attempt to resist, but soon enough she was standing right in front of it, staring down at the water, and at the variety of creatures lurking inside.

“Disgusting,” she muttered under her breath.

“How can you have lived this close to the ocean for your entire life and still be freaked out by sea creatures?” Kanan snickered. “You eat fish all the time but you won’t even touch a sea cucumber?”

“That’s not the same thing!” Dia protested. “Fish aren’t nearly this… Horrid looking!”

“Well get ready!” Kanan replied gleefully. “Cause here we gooo!” Without any other warning she plunged both of their hands down beneath the surface of the tank, kicking up a bit of a splash as she did so. She pushed Dia’s hand right to the bottom, pressing it up against the wriggling, squirming sea cucumber.

“H-Hey! No fair!” Dia blurted out, immediately trying to pull her hand back out of the tank. Kanan refused to let her do so, though, keeping both their hands pushed up against the little creature.

“Aww, look at that!” she teased. “It’s wiggling! I think it likes you!”

“Kanan! Let me go!” Dia demanded, still trying to pull her hand back. “I’m serious!”

“Hmm… Give me a kiss then,” Kanan decided, and the request caused an immediate, vibrant pink to settle in across Dia’s cheeks.

“H-Here??” she stammered out. “We’re in public!”

“And?”

“And it’s indecent!”

“It’s just a kiss, Dia. But if you’d rather keep getting friendly with the sea cucumber instead…” Kanan teased.

“I- Fine!” Dia huffed. She glanced around the surrounding area quickly to make sure that nobody was watching them before hastily leaning in, pressing a very brief peck to her girlfriend’s lips, and then pulling back immediately after. “Now let me go!”

“Oh, fiiine,” Kanan sighed, before finally releasing Dia’s hand. Dia immediately pulled it out of the water and clutched it to her chest, glaring back at Kanan.

“You’re the worst,” Dia huffed, turning her back to her in order to make a point. Kanan didn’t seem particularly discouraged though, simply walking up behind Dia and slipping her arms around her girlfriend’s waist, leaning in over her shoulder with a grin on her face.

“I love you too babe.”

“That’s not what I said!”

“I know,” Kanan giggled. “But it’s what you meant.”


	5. Dia/Yoshiko

“Onee-chan?” Dia looked up from the page she had been reading to see the familiar sight of her little sister standing in her doorway, arms folded behind her back. She seemed nervous about something.

“Yes?” Dia asked, closing her book and smiling with a warmth that only Ruby ever got to see. She set the book aside, moving closer to the edge of her bed. “Do you need something?” Ruby nodded in response, bringing her arms out from behind her back to hold them in front of her, stepping closer and offering an envelope out to her sister.”

“Yoshiko-chan wanted me to give this to you,” Ruby explained. Dia’s brow creased when she heard that, looking down at the envelope that her sister was clutching . It was black (of course it was), with the name “Dia Kurosawa” written across the front in silvery ink and unnecessarily fancy handwriting.

“Did she say why?” Dia asked.

“Nuhuh,” Ruby responded, shaking her head. “She just said to give it to you. And she made me promise not to open it.”

“I see…” Dia replied, although she really didn’t. She reached out to take the envelop from her sister, before giving a small nod. “Thank you, Ruby.”

“You’re welcome!” Ruby said, brightening up at the thanks before being struck with the feeling that she probably shouldn’t be hanging around here any longer. Whatever was in that letter, Yoshiko had told her not to read it. It was probably something personal, and Ruby didn’t feel right standing there while Dia opened it. “I’ll see you later, onee-chan!” she said. And with that, she disappeared from the room.

When she was alone again Dia turned the envelope over, starting to run her finger underneath the seal and gently tease it open (Dia had always been the sort to avoid ripping envelopes whenever possible). Inside she found what appeared to be a letter, written in the same ostentatious font that the front of the envelope had used. At least it was on white paper this time.

 

_Dia-san,_

_There are important matters that I wish to discuss with you. Tonight, the moon will be at its fullest, bathing the world in its radiant silver glow. This lunar revelry will set the perfect stage for clandestine meeting. We will convene on the beach at eleven pm, where the crash of the ocean waves will drown out the sounds of the vile tongues in which we will speak. I look forward to seeing you there, my little demon._

_Sincerely,_

_The Fallen Angel Yohane_

 

“Really, Yoshiko-san?” Dia mumbled under her breath, folding the letter up and looking at the clock. Eleven pm was still six hours away, and frankly, she wasn’t sure that she even wanted to be going down to the beach that late. She wanted to think that there was a good reason for this, but knowing Yoshiko, she couldn’t even be sure that that much was true.

* * *

Jesus, it was freezing. That was all Dia could think about while she stood on the beach, pulling her coat tightly across her body and sinking down into herself while the ocean wind assaulted her. She could have been at home, wrapped up in her nice warm bed, sound asleep right now, but no. Instead she had to be out here freezing to death on the beach because whatever Yoshiko wanted to talk about couldn’t just wait until tomorrow. Speaking of which…

“Ah, I see you’ve decided to come.” The smooth, deep voice rang out behind Dia, and she turned to see Yoshiko approaching from the street, wearing her fallen angel ensemble. Maybe not surprising, given the nature of the letter Dia had received telling her to come here, but she couldn’t imagine that it was very comfortable in this weather. Yoshiko’s legs were almost completely exposed. “I was worried that you might have been too afraid to face what might happen here tonight, but I should have known that you’re no coward. That’s why you’ve earned the fallen angel’s admiration to begin with.”

Dia groaned audibly at that point. “Can you just tell me why we’re here, Yoshiko-sa-”

“Yohane!” Yoshiko corrected irritably.

“Fine, Yohane-san,” Dia huffed. “Now tell me why we’re out here so late before I decide to go back home.”

“Ah, impatient as always,” Yoshiko chuckled, resuming her persona quickly despite the brief interruption. “Very well, I won’t waste your time. I know how valuable it must be, after all. I’ve called you here tonight because the eye of the fallen angel has descended upon you, Dia-san.”

“What are you talking about?” Dia asked.

“Let me finish!” Now it was Yoshiko’s turn to huff, taking a moment to get back in character before she continued to speak. “I have called you here because I have deemed you worthy of the fallen angel Yohane’s companionship! And so, on this moonlight evening, I extend the offer to you to form a dark pact of loyalty,” she explained, extending a hand out towards Dia. “A binding contract, forged in the fires of the underworld and signed here, at the gaping maw of Tartarus. Do you accept?” There were a few moments of silence after that, Dia simply staring at the hand while the gears in her brain slowly turned, until she finally pieced together what was happening.

“...Are you… Asking me out?” Immediately Yoshiko tensed up, expression cracking and eye twitching slightly before she recoiled backwards.

“You didn’t have to say it like that!” she blurted out.

“So you _are_ asking me out!” Dia replied, now taking her own turn to recoil away from Yoshiko.

“It sounds scary when you say it that way!”

“Scarier than asking me if I want to form a dark pact of loyalty with you??”

“Yes!” Yoshiko huffed.

“Just ask me like a normal person!”

“Fine! Do you want to go out with me??”

“Yes!” Both of them fell silent at that point, simply standing where they were and blinking back and forth at each other, until Yoshiko finally found it within herself to speak up.

“...Really?”

“I- One date!” Dia huffed in response, holding up a single finger while her cheeks flushed pink. Fortunately it was cold enough that she could blame that on the weather, rather than on her growing embarrassment. “I’ll go on one date with you!”

“Hehehe,” Yoshiko chuckled, crossing her arms and touching her fingers to her forehead. “Very well then. The contract is sealed.”

“And none of that fallen angel stuff while we’re out together!” Dia hastily added on.

“Oh come on!”


	6. Yoshiko/You

“Is this really necessary??” Yoshiko wheezed out, wincing as the measuring tape dug into the underside of her bust. Behind her stood You, holding said measuring tape, and reading off the number it displayed.

“That depends,” she replied cheerfully. “Does the fallen angel want a costume that won’t even fit her?”

“No,” Yoshiko grumbled reluctantly.

“Then hold still and let me finish.” The costume that You was working on at the moment wasn’t for an Aqours performance, or a video, or anything like that. Rather, it was for Yoshiko’s livestreams. The great Fallen Angel Yohane had been wearing the same costume for a while now, and You decided that this couldn’t stand. Not just because the costume was worn out in a few places, or because it didn’t fit Yoshiko as well as it once had, but simply because the thought of her girlfriend wearing the same costume for _years_ in a row was completely unacceptable to You’s fashion sense. She had insisted that it was time for a change.

“Alright, one more,” she informed Yoshiko, releasing the other girl’s chest from the tight constraint of the measuring tape. “Arms straight out to your sides!” Yoshiko did as she was told, and You took the final measurement before zipping over to her notebook so that she could write down all the numbers before they slipped her mind.

“So… How long will this take?” Yoshiko asked, peering over You’s shoulder as she tried to get a look at the notebook, wanting to see if there were any early drawings or sketches of the sort of outfit that she could expect from this. There were already a handful of concepts, most of them seeming to expand on what Yoshiko’s costume already had. One costume had a hoop skirt, much wider than what her current regalia sported, while another sketch sported designs for what were, as far as Yoshiko could tell, fully articulated wings. She was almost afraid of what she was getting herself into here.

“Hmm, that depends on how much work Chika-chan decides to load onto me in the meantime!” You laughed.  As Aqours’ resident costumer she was responsible for putting together most of what the group wore during the shows, and with a leader who dreamed as big as Chika tended to, it meant she pretty regularly had her hands full. “But I don’t have anything else urgent right now,” You added on, “so I can probably get this done within the week!”

“Really??” Yoshiko asked disbelievingly. She remembered how long it had taken her to get her own costumes made when she was first learning how to sew, how many frustrated hours she had spent hunched over the machine with thread and fabric going in every direction except the ones she wanted them to. She knew that You had a lot more practice than she did with this sort of thing, but she still couldn’t help but feel impressed.

“Really!” You replied, before turning around to face Yoshiko, with one hand on her hip and a coy smile on her face. “Now that just leaves the issue of payment. For something like this we’re probably looking at around… Eleven-thousand yen.”

“W-What?” Yoshiko blurted out, nearly knocked flat by the pricetag. “You know I don’t have that sort of money!”

“Oh?” You replied, tilting her head and glancing up a bit, looking at nothing in particular as she thought. “Well if that’s the case… I guess you’ll just have to find some other way to pay me back!” she declared, grinning as she brought her eyes back down to land on Yoshiko’s. “Something like…”

“I’m not doing that!” Yoshiko huffed, scrunching her face up in disgust, and causing You to snicker a bit in response.

“I wasn’t talking about that! Get your mind out of the gutter, Yocchan,” she teased. “In lieu of payment, I’ll accept _one_ ,” she said, raising a single finger to emphasize her point, “romantic dinner date a nice restaurant. Think the great Fallen Angel Yohane can afford that?” Yoshiko kept her face scrunched up, still a bit annoyed that she was being swindled into this (and a bit embarrassed that she had taken the conversation in the wrong direction), but she at least had to admit that footing the bill for a single date wouldn’t be nearly as bad as paying the full cost You had quoted her for the costume.

“Fine!” she huffed. “But if you wanted a dinner date you could’ve just said so! You didn’t have to trap me like this!”

“Yeah, I know,” You replied, giggling in agreement. “But where would the fun be in that? Now c’mon,” she said, turning to grab her sketchbook off the table before she started to walk, waving for Yoshiko to follow her. “I have some fabrics I wanna show you.”


	7. Hanamaru/Mari

“Oooh, this is going to be so exciting!” Mari exclaimed, clapping her hands together as she looked up at the sign marking the gate for their flight. “You’ll love Italy so much! The food, the beaches, the history! Aren’t you looking forward to it Maru-chan?” And then, when she was met with silence, a second, quieter “...Maru-chan?” followed a moment later. Looking back over her shoulder Mari found that her girlfriend had disappeared almost completely. Green eyes scanned the crowded boarding area for a few moments before she noticed a familiar looking tuft of hair sticking up over the top of a trashcan, and Mari zipped right over to check on her.

“Maru-chan!” she hummed, leaning over the trashcan and peering down at the girl curled up behind it. “What are you doing back here?”

“Hiding, zura,” Hanamaru replied, narrowed eyes glancing back and forth suspiciously at every person that walked past. Mari twisted her face into a small pout at that point, swinging around to the other side of the trashcan and crouching down next to Hanamaru, reaching out to put her arm around the younger girl’s shoulders.

“Aww, is someone getting a little _nervoso_?” she asked, tapping a fingertip against her chin. “This is your first time flying, right?”

“And leaving the country,” Hanamaru added on, prompting a little giggle from Mari.

“Well that sort of goes without saying,” she replied. “Unless you’re taking a boat, I guess, but that just seems inefficient! Anyway,” she went on, focusing back up and tugging Hanamaru a bit closer. “What are you worried about, bella?” As she was asked that question Hanamaru peeled her eyes away from the crowds and looked out the floor to ceiling glass wall not that far from where they were sitting, eyes falling on one of the enormous planes that was currently sitting stationary right outside the gate.

“I don’t trust them,” she huffed, shooting the plane the sort of suspicious, accusatory glare that would normally be reserved for a person. It wasn’t really hard to understand why she might feel that way, of course. Up until recently she had never even used a computer or a cell phone, and now Hanamaru was being asked to get onto what was, effectively, a giant winged metal tube, that would then fly them out across the ocean, and over the better part of two continents, before landing them safely in Italy. To Mari, who had been flying around the world for as long as she could remember, it was something that she took for granted. But to Hanamaru, who had never experienced something like this before, it was understandably terrifying.

“What’s not to trust?” Mari asked, rubbing Hanamaru’s shoulder as she asked the question. “I’ve been flying around in planes my whole life and I’ve never had anything bad happen to me on one. The most you have to worry about is getting sat next to a crying baby or someone who smells really bad,” she giggled. “Plus you’ve got me here! So if anyone smelly does end up in our row I’ll be your buffer!”

“But… What if we fall out of the sky?” Hanamaru responded.  “Or disappear, zura?”

“That almost never actually happens!” Mari promised, shaking her head and laughing the question off. “You’ve been reading too many books about plane crashes and not paying enough attention to the real thing.” Mari leaned over after that, pressing a kiss to the top of her girlfriend’s head before starting to stand back up, removing her arm from around Hanamaru in the process and reaching to take the other girl’s hand instead. “Everything’ll be just fine, okay? You have my word!” Hanamaru still seemed skeptical, but at the very least she allowed herself to gently get tugged back to her feet as Mari stood up, reaching out with her free hand to grab onto her suitcase. If Mari said it was safe then it probably was… Right? Either that or it was going to be a disaster.

* * *

 

Hanamaru had still been a bundle of nerves the entire time they had been waiting in line and boarding the plane, and she had slammed the window shut during takeoff so that she wouldn’t have to watch the ground as it got further away, but now that they were sitting comfortably in their seats (first class, of course) and flying smoothly, she seemed to be far more at ease.

“What’s this…?” she murmured, leaning in towards the screen that was set into the back of the seat in front of her, reaching up to tap at the currently blank display.

“It’s a little television, Maru-chan,” Mari giggled, never failing to be delighted and amused by just how clueless her girlfriend could be when it came to technology. “They’ll start playing a movie soon, to keep the passengers _intrattenuti_. It’s a long flight, you know.”

“Huh? How long?” Hanamaru asked, peeling her attention away from the television screen and looking back towards Mari.

“Hmm. About thirteen hours, if I read the tickets right!” Mari didn’t even think that was that bad, compared to some of the flights she had taken in the past, but judging from the look that immediately crossed over Hanamaru’s face, it seemed that her girlfriend disagreed.

“We’ll be here for that long…?” she asked.

“Mhmm!” Mari replied. “But don’t you worry! I brought plenty of stuff to keep us busy! And if you get tired you can even take a little nap!” she added on, tossing an arm around Hanamaru once again and tugging the girl a little bit closer. “My chest makes a great pillow, you know!” she giggled. Hanarmu’s face instantly went red upon hearing that, and she sunk down into herself as much as she could while also dealing with Mari yanking her around.

“I’d rather just use a normal pillow, zura…”

“Not an option!” Mari replied, wagging her finger back at Hanamaru. “It’s bust or bust!”


	8. Mari/Yoshiko

“Ooh, what about these?” Mari asked, tapping her finger against the edge of the glass tank in the seafood section of the market. They look  _ molto delizioso _ !”

“They look expensive!” Yoshiko corrected, leaning in next to Mari to jab her finger against the price tag that was attached to the side of the tank. “We can’t afford this!”

“Hmm? Of course we can!” Mari giggled, standing back up straight with a gleeful smile on her face. “I told you that I would pay, didn’t I?”

“And I told you that I wouldn’t let you!”

“Hmph! Suit yourself! I’ll just have to keep them aaaaall to myself then,” Mari teased. Even though the two of them had been dating for a while, Yoshiko still always seemed to get this way whenever Mari offered to pay for anything- which, frankly, the third year didn’t really understand. She had the money to be able to positively spoil Yoshiko if the girl would just let her, but Yoshiko was as stubborn as stubborn could be at times. And wherever they went, she always seemed to insist on paying for herself.

“Can’t we just stick to cheaper ingredients?” Yoshiko huffed, grabbing Mari by the wrist and dragging the blonde away from the tank that she had been staring into. Mari let out a small whine of protest in response, although aside from that she didn’t really seem bent on trying to prevent it. Yoshiko marched her down to the end of the aisle, where the much more affordable, pre-butchered fish was waiting for them.

“Aww, but this won’t be as good,” Mari protested. “It’s not as  _ yummy fresh _ !” she said, switching into English with the last two words. Even cute little mannerisms like that still didn’t seem to be enough to change Yoshiko’s mind at the moment, though.

“It’ll be affordable!” she insisted, starting to look over the various cuts of fish that were on ice in front of them. Mari stood beside Yoshiko pouting for a few moments, before a devious grin spread over her face. Without warning she threw herself forward, tossing her arms around Yoshiko from behind and very nearly sending the younger, slightly smaller girl toppling forward into the display.

“Mari-chan!” Yoshiko blurted out, immediately starting to squirm in an attempt to break free of the grip. She found herself entirely unsuccessful, however, and she was even a bit surprised by just how tightly Mari was capable of clinging onto her.

“I’m not letting go of you until you let me buy you something, Yocchan!” Mari insisted.

“I told you I can pay for it myself just fine!” Yoshiko huffed in response, still doing her best to wiggle free from Mari, despite the very concrete realization that it wasn’t going to be happening. “Now get off of me!”

“Oh come oooon,” Mari whined. “It’s not even like I’m just paying for you! I’ll be eating all this too!” she pointed out.

“Then you can help pay for the cheap ingredients!” Yoshiko retorted. Mari still didn’t seem deterred, however, and in fact, her grin only stretched even wider at that point. She leaned in over Yoshiko’s shoulder, hands starting to snake their way a bit higher up her girlfriend’s torso.

“Are you suuure about that?” Mari hummed. “There’s not any way I can  _ squeeze _ a change of heart out of you?”

“W-What??” Yoshiko blurted out, body suddenly going rigidi in Mari’s grip, eye twitching slightly. “Hold on! Not here!”

“Then you’ll let me pay?”

“I- Fine!” Yoshiko reluctantly agreed. Mari giggled delightedly at that point, stepping back and clapping her hands together.

“Yay!” she exclaimed, and this time it was her turn to grab Yoshiko by the wrist, dragging her back towards the more expensive fish that they had left behind just a moment before. “This’ll be such a delicious dinner, Yocchan!” she promised. “You won’t regret this!”

“Just because I agreed doesn’t mean I’m happy about this you know!” Yoshiko huffed in response, digging her heels into the ground to make it that much more difficult for Mari to drag her down the aisle. “That was a dirty trick!”

“Sometimes you have to play dirty to win, bella,” Mari replied. “I would’ve thought that if anyone would understand that it would be a fallen angel!” Yoshiko seemed to be a little surprised to have the tables turned on her like that, blinking a few times before turning her nose up at Mari and huffing indignantly.

“Just because I’m a fallen angel doesn’t mean I don’t have a code of honor! I would never do something so-” Yoshiko found herself cut off a moment later by the feeling of a finger pressed up against her lips, and she looked back down to see that Mari was shushing her now.

“You know,” Mari hummed, “when someone else is offering to buy something expensive for you, most people would just say ‘thank you.’” Yoshiko glared back at Mari for a few seconds before letting her shoulders slump down. She lowered her gaze down to the ground, speaking up softly.

“Thank you…”

“You’re very welcome!” Mari replied gleefully. “Now come on! These ingredients are going to buy themselves!”


	9. Chika/Ruby

“It’s tall…”

“Yeah!”

“Like… R-Really tall…” Chika and Ruby stood at the base of an enormous tree. Specifically, the tallest tree that Chika could find in all of Uchiura. When Ruby had mentioned that she had never climbed a tree before, thanks to Dia’s constant insistence that she would end up getting hurt when they were children, a normal person would have either, one, not really cared because they were high school students and were probably already a little too old for it anyway or, two, found a more reasonably sized tree to introduce Ruby to the concept. Not Chika, though. Everything she did she did to the fullest, and that included introducing her girlfriend to the art of climbing a tree.

“Are you sure this is safe?” Ruby asked, pulling her eyes away from the top of the tree and looking over at Chika instead. She was obviously intimidated by the thought, balling her hands up and holding them close to her chest as she stood in the shadow of the tree.

“Positive!” Chika replied confidently. “Me and You-chan and Kanan-chan used to climb this exact tree all the time when we were kids and it always turned out fine!” Aside from the one time Chika had fallen out and ended up with a broken wrist, but fortunately she had the good sense not to mention that in front of Ruby. “Now c’mon!” With that Chika was already off, stepping forward and reaching up to grab onto the lowest branch of the tree. With a bit of a huff she pulled herself up, walking her feet up the trunk until she was able to get herself on top of the branch and perch herself there, looking back down at Ruby. “See? Piece of cake!”

“It’ll be able to hold both of us, right?” Ruby asked cautiously, walking closer to stand under Chika.

“Mhmm! Watch,” Chika replied, bouncing up and down on the branch a few times to prove her point. Sure enough, it barely even moved, and it didn’t show any signs of cracking. “So come up!”

“Okay…” Ruby murmured. She reached up to grab onto the branch that Chika was sitting on (and ended up having to jump slightly just to be able to reach it), eventually managing to grab hold. From there she tried to mimic the same thing that the older girl had done, planting her feet against the trunk of the tree and attempting to use that to lift herself higher. It wasn’t entirely successful, though, and after getting about halfway up Ruby’s foot slipped, causing her to dangle from the branch about two inches off the ground. Not far at all, but just far enough to freak her out.

“Chika-chan!” she cried out squirming around as Chika scooted closer.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you!” Chika promised, quickly bending down to grab Ruby hands. From there, with a bit of pulling and tugging, she was able to lift Ruby up higher, and eventually Ruby was clinging on to the top of the branch. It took her a few more seconds after that to work up the confidence to move into a sitting position, but once she was perched next to Chika she seemed to realize that she wasn’t at any risk of falling.

“We’re really high up,” Ruby commented, looking down at the ground below her while swinging her legs back and forth. They weren’t actually that far above it just yet, around six feet at most, but to someone who had never climbed a tree before, and was also as short as Ruby was, it felt like a lot. Still, it didn’t frighten her as much as she thought that it might have. Now that she was safely up here, and now that she could tell the branch wasn’t going anywhere, it was actually kind of fun in its own little way. She could see why people enjoyed it. But of course, they weren’t done yet.

“This is nothing!” Chika insisted, suddenly jumping up to her feet. “We’re going all the way to the top!” In doing so, of course, she caused the branch to shake rather aggressively, and suddenly Ruby was squealing out in terror and throwing herself down to cling onto it once again. “Huh?” Chika grunted when she heard the noise, looking down to see a very frightened girlfriend. “What’s wrong? Are you still scared?”

“Do we really have to go any higher than this…?” Ruby squeaked out, looking up at Chika while holding onto the branch as if for dear life.

“Of course!” Chika insisted. “It doesn’t count as climbing a tree if you only make it to the first layer. There’s plenty more to go!”

“B-But if we go any higher and we end up falling…”

“Then we’ll just have to make sure not to fall,” Chika replied, crouching down to bring herself closer to Ruby’s eye level. “And if you do start to fall I’ll be right here to catch you, okay?”

“Promise?” Ruby asked.

“Promise.” With that Chika reached a hand out towards Ruby, and after looking at it cautiously for a moment Ruby let go of the branch in order to take it. With Chika’s help she pulled herself to a standing position, and Chika was quick to set her sights on the next branch above them. “Alright!” she declared. “We’re going all the way to the top! You ready?”

“Mhmm,” Ruby replied, giving a confident little nod and squeezing Chika’s hand for reassurance. “As long as you’re here with me.”

“Then let’s go! What are we gonna do?”

“Our Rubesty!” Ruby giggled out in response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am no good at drawings but as an apology for the delay in updates please accept this artistic representation of how this story ends:
> 
> https://imgur.com/LoJ4hLm


	10. Mari/You

“Hoist the mizzenmast! Swab the starboard bow! Skiff the scooner!”

“You know that was a bunch of nonsense, Mari-chan.”

“Hmm, I know,” Mari giggled. “But it’s fun to talk like that!” The two girls were on the deck of a sailboat a little ways off the beach of Uchiura. Mari was leaning over the railing at the edge of the boat, watching small waves slosh up against it, while You was focused on actually adjusting the sails, making sure they didn’t get swept out to sea during what was supposed to be a pleasant little lunch trip. They weren’t that far from land, and could still clearly see the beach a little way off, but You wanted to keep it that way. Eventually Mari lost interest in whatever it was about the water that had captivated her in the first place, turning back around and leaning against the railing while facing her girlfriend.

“I’ve gotta say, you look pretty good tugging at those ropes like that. My sexy sailor girlfriend,” Mari teased. You grinned when she heard that, making a point of flexing her arms as she yanked one last rope into place and tied it off. Content that they weren’t at any risk of being stolen away by any sudden gust of wind she then walked over towards the railing, stepping up beside Mari and leaning over it.

“Well y’know, sails aren’t the only thing I’m good at tying up,” You replied, flashing a wink at Mari before turning her attention back out over the water again. “You ready?”

“ _ Pronto! _ ” Mari replied, grabbing hold of the baggy t-shirt she had been wearing and tossing it off over her head. She was clad in her swimsuit underneath, as was You as she did the same.

“One, two, THREE!” You shouted, and at the conclusion of the countdown both girls vaulted over the railing, launching themselves off the boat and into the water. They both hit the surface of the ocean with a loud splash, disappearing underneath it for a second or two. You was the first to come back up, shaking the water off of herself before looking over just in time to see a messy, wet tangle of blonde hair come breaking through the water as well.

“Water’s pretty nice today, huh?” she asked, before narrowing her eyes. Mari’s cheeks were unusually puffed out, but by the time she realized what was about to happen it was already too late to stop it. “Don’t you d-!” she started to shout, only to be cut off by a blast of sea water spit directly from Mari’s mouth and into her face. “Mari!” she huffed, doing her best to act frustrated rather than amused, and causing her girlfriend to giggle with malicious glee.

“What’s the matter?” Mari taunted. “You were just saying how nice it was, weren’t you?”

“Doesn’t mean I want a face full of it!” You protested, scooping her hands through the water to send a splash back in Mari’s direction. Mari laughed more as it hit her, taking a moment to shake herself off before opening her eyes again. When she did, however, she found that the other girl had mysteriously gone missing.

“You-chan?” she called out, looking around in mild confusion as she tried to track down where her girlfriend had ended up. The question was answered for her as, a few seconds later, she felt something (or, hopefully, someone) grab her by the ankles. She had just enough time to squeal out before she was dragged below the surface, plunged into cold, wet darkness.

Fortunately You only kept Mari underneath the water for a couple of seconds before letting her go, and Mari was quick to swim back up through the surface, gasping for air and shaking her wet hair off again. You came up a second later, wrapping one arm around Mari’s waist while treading water with the other.

“You’d better be careful,” she warned. “We’re in my element now.”

“Very uncool,” Mari huffed twisting her neck around to pout at You over her shoulder. “I can’t believe you would betray my trust like this.”

“Aww, I’m sorry,” You snickered back, before leaning in to press a quick peck to Mari’s lips. “Does that make up for it?”

“Mmm,  _ tre _ more,” Mari demanded, holding three fingers up above the surface of the water to illustrate her demands. You rolled her eyes in response, but she complied, leaning in to press three more kisses to Mari’s lips in quick succession before pulling back.

“That enough?” she asked.

“ _ Cinque  _ more,” Mari replied, raising a full five fingers this time.

“Getting greedy, huh?” You replied, starting to plunge them both back down.

“Okay, okay!” Mari squealed out, thrashing her arms in a largely unsuccessful attempt to keep herself from getting dragged under again. “Play nice!”

“That’s rich coming from you,” You teased, although she did at least let go of Mari, swimming back a few feet from her girlfriend and treading water there. Mari pivoted herself around so that she could face You now, still wearing a grumpy pout on her face.

“When my lovely bella invited me out for a romantic boating trip I didn’t think it was so she could drown me in the middle of the ocean,” she huffed. “ _ Quanto orribile! _ ”

“Are you always this dramatic?” You asked.

“You should know!” Mari replied. “You’re the one dating me!”

“And sometimes you make me wonder why.”

“You-chan!” Mari gasped out, feigning shock as she put a hand to her forehead and tossed her head back. “You can’t possibly mean that!”

“Hey,” You snickered back. “I only said  _ sometimes _ .”


	11. Hanamaru/Ruby

Hanamaru was, as she so often became while reading, intensely focused on the page in front of her. It was anyone’s guess as to how long she had been sitting there lost in her book, and it was only when she felt someone’s chin pressing against the top of her head and saw those familiar wisps of red hair falling into the edges of her vision that she was snapped out of what she was doing, lifting her head a bit to find Ruby leaning over her.

“What’re you reading, Maru-chan?” she asked, peering down at the page, rather than at Hanamaru herself.

“Oh… It’s boring,” Hanamaru replied. “You wouldn’t like it.” She started to close the book at that point, although before she could a small hand shot down to keep the book open, and Hanamaru looked back up again to see Ruby now staring directly at her, a startlingly intense look on her girlfriend’s face. Her eyes were narrowed, brow creased, and her cheeks were puffed out.

“You always say that,” Ruby huffed. “But it’s interesting to you. And if it’s interesting to you then it’s interesting to me too. So tell me about it,” she insisted. Hanamaru, startled to see such a sudden display of assertiveness out of the normally timid girl, blinked in surprise a few times before a little smile crossed over her face.

“Well… It’s a historical fiction novel,” Hanamaru began, slowly bringing her eyes back down towards the page. “It’s about a samurai fighting against the Mongol invasion during the Kamakura period.” Ruby scrunched her face up even more when Hanamaru explained that, trying her hardest to wrack her brain and remember anything she might have learned about this during her classes.

“Was that… With the typhoons?” she asked.

“Mhmm,” Hanamaru replied with a small smile, and Ruby bounced up and down on top of her head with excitement.

“Yay! I remembered something!” she declared happily, although the celebration was short lived, given that Hanamaru decided to keep quizzing her.

“Do you remember what the samurai did after the typhoons?” she asked, and once again Ruby had to furrow her brow, trying to dig back into the deep parts of her mind where this information was stored.

“Um… The shogunate didn’t have enough money to pay them,” Ruby answered. “So the samurais got angry and overthrew them… Right?”

“That’s right,” Hanamaru said, reaching up above her to pat Ruby on the head. “You really did pay attention in history class, zura.” Ruby’s smile widened as she felt Hanamaru patting her, a happy little noise coming from her throat before she spoke.

“It’s easier to pay attention when I know it’s something you like, Maru-chan,” she giggled. “I just tell myself that maybe it’s something I could talk to you about later, and then it becomes more interesting.” Hanamaru blushed a little bit when she heard that, sinking down into her chair slightly. Suddenly the pressure on her head was gone, though, and she looked up to see Ruby moving around the table and sitting down in the chair across from her, a happy smile on the other girl’s face. “Okay!” Ruby said. “Read to me!”

“...Huh?” Hanamaru replied, seeming confused for a moment before she looked back down at the book in front of her. “You mean… From this?”

“Mhmm!” Ruby responded, nodding eagerly. “It sounds interesting.”

“But… I’m already halfway through, zura,” Hanamaru murmured.

“Then you’ll just have to explain the parts I won’t understand!” Hanamaru still wasn’t completely convinced, although when she looked back up to see Ruby staring at her across the table with big, bright green eyes, it became hard to say no. “Pleaaaaaase, Maru-chan?”

“...Okay,” Hanamaru eventually conceded, unable to bring herself to say no to that face. Why did Ruby have to be so damn cute all the time?

“Yay! Thank you!” Ruby cheered, raising her hands and making a little heart with her fingers across the table. Hanamaru’s face started to burn even more brightly at that point, her own cheeks coming close to Ruby’s hair in color, and she quickly buried her face back into her book, starting to pick up where she had left off.

“ _ He could hear the Mongol army approaching long before he could actually see them. The sound of thousands of hooves clattering in unison echoed from over the hills… _ ”


	12. Kanan/Riko

Kanan stared out the window as she watched the darkened surroundings of the countryside pass them by. It was late, the sun had set a while ago, and she and Riko were on their way back to Uchiura after spending a long day in Tokyo. It had been fun, but also exhausting, and pretty much the moment they had gotten back onto the train Riko had passed out on Kanan’s shoulder. Kanan had been left sitting there with an amused smile on her face, and while it was a bit boring to be left on her own like that, Riko looked far too peaceful for Kanan to even think about disturbing her.

Eventually they were coming up on the station in Uchiura once again, though, and so Kanan finally reached down, shaking Riko gently to try to wake her up. “Hey, Riko-chan,” she hummed out, causing her girlfriend to stir slightly, golden eyes slowly opening themselves up.

“Huh…?” she mumbled out quietly. “Did I fall asleep…?”

“Yeah, you did,” Kanan chuckled back. “You were out the whole way home. We’re back in Uchiura now.”

“S-Seriously??” Riko blurted out, jolting upright before leaning across the taller girl to try to see out the window, greeted by the familiar sight of their own town while the train pulled into the station. “I’m sorry, Kanan-chan! I didn’t mean to-”

“Relax,” Kanan laughed, before a teasing smirk crossed over her face. “You look really cute when you’re asleep. It’s nothing to apologize for.” Hearing that immediately made Riko’s face flush bright red, visible even in the relatively dim light of the train car, and suddenly she found herself pulling back off to the side, turning away from Kanan and facing out into the aisle of the car.

“Let’s just go,” she huffed, causing Kanan to laugh as they both stood up. The train finally came to a complete stop a moment later, causing the car to jerk, and causing both girls to stumble a little bit. Riko found herself thrown backwards slightly, nearly losing her footing and ending up right in Kanan’s waiting arms. Almost as if her girlfriend had somehow planned this.

“Careful there,” Kanan teased. “What would you have done if I wasn’t here to save you?” She made a point of flexing her arms at that point, showing off the muscles in them even more. And causing Riko’s face to burn yet again.

“I w-would’ve been fine!” she insisted, forcing herself to stand back up straight as fast as she could while pushing herself away from Kanan. When Riko started walking again she was moving even faster than before, booking it down the aisle with the apparent intention of making it off of the train as soon as possible. Kanan just rolled her eyes before starting to follow after her, amused by how easy it still was to fluster Riko, even after all the time they had been together.

When the two girls stepped out onto the train platform they were greeted by the warm air of a summer evening. Not hot, and not too humid, but just warm enough that it was actually quite pleasant. They could smell the ocean as well, and if they listened carefully enough, they could even hear the waves. There weren’t that many other noises this time of night.

“Well… I had a fun time today,” Riko said, turning back to face Kanan and smiling softly. “Thanks.”

“Huh?” Kanan replied, before flashing a grin down at Riko. “Why’re you talking like the night’s over? What kind of date would I be if I didn’t walk you back home afterwards?” A tiny smile crossed over Riko’s face at that point, and she stepped a little bit closer, allowing Kanan to put her arm around her once again.

“This had better not just be a plan to try to get me to invite you inside,” she murmured softly.

“Are you saying you would have a problem with it if it was?” Kanan snickered, and Riko quickly ended up glancing off to the side in embarrassment. Really, though, she had set herself up for that one, and she knew it.

“Well, if you just wanted to come in for a cup of tea before you went home…” Riko replied, starting to walk down the station platform, with Kanan’s arm still around her.

“Oooor, if I wanted to spend the night,” Kanan suggested. “Uchiura’s a pretty dangerous place, you know! I’m not sure if it would be safe for me to walk home all by myself.”

“You could take care of yourself just fine,” Riko insisted, reaching up to touch her hand to Kanan’s arm. And to feel the lean muscle, immediately noticeable to the touch even when Kanan wasn’t flexing.

“Alright, you caught me,” Kanan admitted. “This is all just a plan so I can spend the night at your place. That’s not so bad, is it?”

“Kanan-chan,” Riko huffed, shrinking down into herself even more while hoping that the darkness was enough to hide her blush.

“I’m not hearing a nooooo!” Kanan sang.

“...I’ll think about it.”


	13. Hanamaru/Kanan

“...You’re sure this is safe, zura?”

“Relax, people do this all the time! We’re not even going that deep.” Kanan moved to the edge of the boat as she spoke, looking down into the water rippling beneath them. They weren’t that far out from the shore, and from this distance she could probably safely swim back to land while dragging Hanamaru with her if the need arose. When her girlfriend had mentioned that she had never been diving before, however, Kanan decided that that absolutely couldn’t stand. Of course, with Hanamaru having never been diving in her life, and not having any experience with SCUBA gear, Kanan had decided to keep things to a snorkel this time around instead. Hanamaru still had some reservations, though.

“But what if I get stuck down there?” she murmured. “Or what if I get lost?”

“How would you get lost, Maru-chan?” Kanan insisted, sitting down on the edge of the boat and letting her legs dip over into the water. “If you don’t know where you are swim up. It’s pretty simple. And if you’re really not sure what you’re doing I’ll be right there beside you the whole time,” she added on, reaching over and placing a hand on top of Hanamaru’s. Hanamaru looked back up at her at that point, and while there was still a clear bit of nervousness and hesitation on her face, a small smile managed to cross over it as well.

“Promise, zura?”

“Promize, zura,” Kanan teased, before reaching up to tug her snorkel mask into place. “You ready for this?”

“Mhmm,” Hanamaru replied, nodding with determination as she moved close to the edge of the boat, letting her own legs dip into the water as well. She adjusted her own mask as well, fitting the breathing piece into her mouth exactly as Kanan had showed her. Kanan did the same, and the two girls exchanged one more look at each other, both nodding silently before Kanan slipped over the edge of the boat and splashed into the water. Hanamaru didn’t follow, though.

Kanan was in the water for a few seconds before she realized that there was nobody beside her. A brief moment of panic struck her as she thought that maybe she had actually managed to lose the first-year somehow, but as she looked back at the boat that question was answered for her. Hanamaru was still sitting there at the edge, seemingly frozen in place as she stared down at the ocean beneath her. Kanan treaded water for a few seconds before pulling her own snorkel out, calling out to Hanamaru.

“Everything okay?” she asked. “The water too cold or something?”

“Nuh-uh,” Hanamaru grunted through her mouthpiece, shaking her head. Kanan frowned a little bit, slowly starting to swim closer to the boat again.

“Are you still nervous?” That prompted a nod, and Kanan sighed softly as she tried to figure out how to convince her girlfriend that there was really nothing to be afraid of. “Hmm… I'll tell you what,” Kanan decided. “If you  _ really _ don’t wanna come in the water then you can just stay here on the boat and I’ll swim around by myself for a little while, okay?” Hanamaru quickly shook her head at that, reaching her hands out to Kanan, and Kanan just laughed in response. “But I’m all the way out here in the water!” she pointed out. “If you want something you’ll have to come swim over to me!” Even underneath the mask Kanan could still see Hanamaru’s face scrunching up at that point, but it seemed to get the desired result. After a few more moments the younger girl slowly moved herself all the way to the edge of the boat, and then, with one more deep breath to prepare herself, dropped into the water. Kanan clapped her hands together happily at that point, watching Hanamaru swim over towards her before removing her mouthpiece.

“Now you have to stay close to me,” she insisted.

“I promised I would, didn’t I?” Kanan replied. “So don’t you worry. You’ll be safe with me this whole time!”

“And you’re sure there’s nothing dangerous in the water here, right zura?” Hanamaru asked.

“Positive,” Kanan insisted. “Sharks almost never come in this close to the shore. I figured someone like you would know all about that,” she added on, reaching out and flicking Hanamaru on the forehead. Hanamaru scrunched her face up again at that point, sinking down into the water just a bit more with a quiet huff. Kanan laughed at that, before reaching up to take hold of her mouthpiece again. “Alright, you ready for real this time?”

“Ready, zura. Just don’t swim away from me,” she replied, before fitting her mouthpiece into the place.

“Stop worrying so much, I already promise I wouldn’t,” Kanan laughed, putting her own mouthpiece into place as well. They looked at each other one more time after that, and Kanan gave a small nod, which Hanamaru returned, before the two took a deep breath and disappeared under the surface of the water.


	14. Ruby/You

“Do you think the bows should go on the front? Or up on the shoulder?” At the sound of Ruby’s voice You glanced up from the long strips of fabric she had stretched out in front of her, and she almost burst out laughing at the adorably determined look that the smaller girl had on her face while she contemplated that question. With a performance coming up in just a few days’ time, You and Ruby had been tasked with putting the finishing details on the costumes that they were going to wear. Not that either of them really seemed to mind, of course. They were both perfectly happy to be given an excuse to spend time together.

“Let me see both,” You replied, hopping up to her feet and walking over towards Ruby. Ruby nodded in response, first holding the bow up on the front of the outfit, around the waist.

“Like this?” she asked. “Or…” From there she moved the bow up towards the shoulder, holding it in place there as well. “Like this?”

“Shoulder,” You decided almost immediately upon seeing both options. “If we put it right in the front everything’s too symmetrical. It’s nice to break that up!”

“Are you sure?” Ruby asked, peering back up at the older girl. “If we put it on the shoulder it might get in the way when everyone’s dancing, and I don’t want people messing up because of that…”

“Then do ours first!” You suggested. “And once they’re finished we can give ‘em a test run to make sure everything’s good, alright?” Ruby smiled softly at the idea, giving a nod of approval.

“Alright!” she agreed, setting the bow in place on the shoulder before reaching for her sewing needle again. While she did that, though, You glanced up towards the clock, blinking in surprise a few times when she saw just what time it actually was.

“Hey… We’ve been at this almost four hours,” she pointed out, glancing back down towards Ruby.

“Really?” Ruby replied. “I didn’t even notice…”

“Well, how about a little break?” You suggested. “You getting hungry at all?” Ruby thought about that for a moment, scrunching her face up into that familiar, thoughtful expression for a moment before shaking her head.

“Not yet,” she decided. “I’ll keep working.”

“Aw, c’mon,” You huffed, pouting dramatically while she scooted closer to her girlfriend. “ _ I’m  _ hungry. You’re not gonna make me go get food all by myself, are you?”

“But I’ve still got more work to do,” Ruby insisted, shaking her head. “You can go ahead without me.”

“Alright…” You sighed, coming up behind Ruby and cracking her knuckles. “I didn’t want it to have to come to this, but I guess you’re not leaving me any choice.” Ruby had just started to look back over her shoulder to figure out what You actually meant by that, but before she had the chance she suddenly felt two strong arms wrapping around her waist, lifting her up into the air.

“H-Hey!” Ruby squealed out, squirming around in You’s arms and kicking her legs back and forth, despite the fact that her feet were now a good few inches off the ground, and it really wasn’t accomplishing anything. “Put me dowwwwn!” she whined.

“Sorry, no can do!” You snickered, slowly starting to lumber towards the door with Ruby still in her grip (the other girl’s wild thrashing about was certainly make it more difficult, though). “If you won’t come with me willingly I guess I just gotta kidnap you.”

“You-channn!” Ruby huffed, setting about trying to pry You’s arms away from around her waist. It still wasn’t working out for her, though- apparently all those years of sailing and swimming had done wonders for You’s upper body strength. Even then, though, You was still already getting a bit tired out. Not that she would admit this.

“Not even breaking a sweat!” You bragged. “I could do this all day. You’re really light, Ruby-chan!”

“Fiiine!” Ruby huffed in response. “I’ll go get food with you! Just put me dooown!” You breathed out a sigh of relief at that point, loosening her grip and letting Ruby drop back to the floor. Ruby was, of course, wearing an indignant pout on her face now, but You at least knew that it  wouldn’t last for very long.

“So, what kind of food are we gonna get?” she asked.

“I don’t care,” Ruby grumbled, crossing her arms and glaring down at her feet while she shuffled across the room.

“You suuure?” You asked, slipping up beside Ruby and putting an arm around her waist again. “We could go to that little cafe you like nearby. The one with the really good sandwiches, and the sweet potato fries.” That got Ruby’s attention a little bit more, and she slowly glanced up from the ground when she heard that, at least a bit of the annoyance fading from her face.

“Are you trying to bribe me with food?” she asked.

“Maybe,” You snickered. “Is it working?”

“...Maybe.”


	15. Chika/Yoshiko

“Hehehe. The unholy providence of the fallen angel has smiled upon you today, little demon. It seems-”

“Why are you calling me a little demon when I’m older than you?”

“Don’t interrupt!”

“If I’d known this was gonna take so long I wouldn’t have agreed to come here!” With that Chika let out a dramatic huff, crossing her arms and sinking further down into her seat. The two of them were sitting at a table in Yoshiko’s room, which was notably dark, thanks to the fact that all of the curtains had been drawn. The only source of light was the candle sitting between them (and the sunlight that still managed to sneak in through the curtains all the same), and Yoshiko herself was cloaked in a dark robe, sitting across from Chika while spreading cards out over the surface of the table.

“These things take time!” Yoshiko insisted. “You can’t rush the fates!”

“I’m not rushing the fates,” Chika grumbled under her breath. “I’m rushing you.” Choosing to ignore that comment, Yoshiko instead turned her attention back towards the deck of tarot cards, pulling another from the top of and laying it down on the table with a dramatic flourish. Despite the fact that she had been dismissive of all of this just a moment before Chika still sat back up a little bit, peering over to try to see what had been laid out.

“Ah, the World arcana,” Yoshiko chuckled. “How fortuitous. A card that bears no ill meaning, no matter how it appears. It seems positive fortune truly has fallen upon you today.”

“That’s good!” Chika responded, leaning in over the table and seeming to become invested in the entire process just as quickly as she had dismissed it in the first place. “So what does it mean?”

“The cards want you to take comfort in knowing that you have done well so far, little demon, and that you have been succeeding in your goals.”

“Eh?” Chika replied, tilting her head a little bit. “That’s all?”

“What do you mean that’s all!” Yoshiko blurted back in response. “That’s a great fortune!”

“But it’s so vague!” Chika protested. “That barely tells me anything!”

“It’s meant to be vague! Just because I can read your fortune doesn’t mean I can see into the future!” Yoshiko insisted. 

“That’s lame,” Chika huffed. And then, just like before, she was crossing her arms and sinking back down into her chair all over again. “Just draw the next card.”

“I’m not gonna do this if you keep disrespecting me like this!” Yoshiko shot back, crossing her own arms and turning her nose up at Chika.

“Yoshiko-chaaan,” Chika whined, before being interrupted, just like always.

“Yohane!”

“Right, right,” Chika mumbled back. And then and idea popped into her head, and a devious smirk crossed over her face. “Sorry… Yoshiko-sama.” Yoshiko was visibly surprised for a moment when she heard that, before a pleased grin adorned her own expression in turn.

“Well, I suppose I can’t let such a display of reverence go unanswered,” she replied, spreading her fingers across her eyes as she spoke. “Very well, little demon. Reap your reward!” she declared, dramatically sweeping her arm across the table once more to pull a card from the top of the deck. After snatching the card up she lifted it so that she could see, although the moment she did so she froze up, a faint blush coming to her cheeks. “Ah- that one’s no good!” she blurted out, quickly trying to stuff it back into the deck. Of course, that only piqued Chika’s curiosity even more, and before Yoshiko could safely dispose of the card she was leaning in across the table, trying to snatch it away.

“If it came up it must be important!” she insisted. “Let me see it!”

“I-It’s nothing! The cards are wrong sometimes!” Despite her best attempts to keep the card away from the other girl, however, Chika eventually managed to get her hands on it, snatching it over to her side of the table so that she could get a good look at it. And the moment she did so, she let out a dramatic gasp.

“The Lovers arcana?” she asked, looking at the card for a few seconds before a grin spread over her face. “Aww, I think I know what this means!”

“It doesn’t mean anything!” Yoshiko repeated, face rapidly growing redder and redder.

“Yes it doeeees!” Chika giggled. “I love you, Yoshiko-chan!”

“Sh-Shut up!” Yoshiko huffed. “I know that!”

“And?”

“And what?”

“You know that  _ aaaand _ ?”

“And I love you too!” she blurted out, before immediately disappearing down inside her cloak to hide her face. “Now put the card back!”


	16. Dia & Ruby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not incest don't worry

Ruby stood in the hallway outside her older sister’s room, shifting her weight back and forth between her feet nervously for a few seconds. She looked down at the box that she was holding in her hands, then back up towards the door, before finally raising a fist and knocking against the wood a few times.

“Onee-chan?” she called out. “Are you in there?”

“Yes,” Dia’s voice called back a moment later. “Come in.” Ruby smiled when she heard that, sliding the door open and stepping into Dia’s room. She kept her hands behind her back as she did so, trying to keep the box out of view. Dia herself was sitting at her desk, writing something down in her notebook. Judging from the textbook that was set out beside her, it looked like this was something that was related to school, rather than something that was related to Aqours. Upon noticing that the smile faltered from Ruby’s face for just a moment, bright green eyes flicking back and forth between the textbook and Dia herself.

“Um… Are you busy right now?” Ruby asked cautiously, although it looked like the answer to that question was already pretty obvious. Still, as Ruby asked it Dia set her pencil down, pivoting around in her chair and turning to face her sister with a soft smile on her lips.

“A little bit,” Dia replied. “But it’s nothing that can’t wait. Do you need something?” Ruby’s own smile returned a bit more when she heard that, glad to know that Dia wasn’t going to be too busy for her. She knew that, between schoolwork, student council president duties, Aqours, and college entrance exams, Dia didn’t tend to have that much free time. And as a result, Ruby was always a little bit cautious about coming to her sister like this. Right now, though, Dia actually seemed happy to see her. And that made Ruby happy in turn.

“Well…” Ruby started off. She still seemed a little bit nervous, continuing to bounce back and forth between her feet as she spoke, fidgeting uneasily. “You know how I went to Numazu with Hanamaru-chan and Yoshiko-chan the other day?”

“I remember that, yes.” After speaking Dia’s eyes moved to whatever it was that Ruby was holding behind her back, trying to see what it was that her sister was actually hiding there. She couldn’t get a good look at it, but it was at least obvious that Ruby was holding  _ something _ , and she figured that said something was probably Ruby’s reason for coming into her room in the first place.

“I… Saw something while we were there,” Ruby went on. “And, I thought…” She trailed off for a second there, before suddenly deciding to simply get to her point and show Dia what she was talking about. She pulled the box out from behind her back, holding it up so that her sister could see exactly what it was that she had: it was a DVD case, specifically, and the artwork on the cover made it pretty clear what sort. From the looks of it the DVD was some kind of anthology, a collection of school idol performances from all around Tokyo and the wider surrounding regions.

“It’s been awhile since we’ve watched one of these together,” Ruby said, dropping her eyes away from Dia and looking down at the case in her hands instead. “So, I thought that, if you’re not too busy…”

“I would love that.” Ruby couldn’t stop herself from being surprised when she heard that, making a startled noise before she could stop herself and looking up to see her sister smiling back at her. She realized, at that point, that she had already been assuming the worst. She knew that Dia loved her, of course. That much had never been in doubt. But she also knew just how busy her sister was, and she knew that Dia frequently didn’t have time for this sort of thing. She had been expecting a “Not right now” or a “Maybe later.” So, to hear Dia say that they actually could, it made Ruby’s entire night.

“Really?” she asked, bouncing up on her toes as she held the DVD case tightly against her chest.

“Really,” Dia agreed. “Why don’t you go queue this up on the TV in the living room and I’ll be there in there in just a minute?”

“Okay!” Ruby squeaked out excitedly. “I’ll go get it set up!” The younger girl was already turning on her feet by that point, ready to run out into the living room, and she was halfway across the floor when Dia spoke up again.

“I love you, Ruby.” Ruby paused for just a moment when she heard that, a smile crossing over her face despite the fact that she had her back to Dia at the moment.

“I love you too, onee-chan,” she replied. And then she was disappearing out the door, and Dia was left sitting there, a soft smile stretching over her own face as she listened to the sound of her sister’s footsteps disappearing down the hall.


	17. Chika/You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took on a way more serious tone than everything up until this point sorry if anyone gets whiplash from it

It was hard to be in love with her best friend. It was hard to keep it a secret for all of those years, when they had promised that they would tell each other everything, knowing that this was the one something that could jeopardize all of that. It was hard when they would get into the their late night gossip sessions, and she would ask subtle, probing questions about Chika’s romantic life, about whether she had feelings for anyone, knowing that she was setting herself up for disappointment one way or the other. It was hard to listen to people talk about fairytale endings, knowing that for her, that meant being a supporting character in someone else’s. It was hard. It was really, really hard.

And You had finally had enough.

Maybe it was reckless to leave her room and run across their entire town in the middle of the night. She didn’t care. Chika had done the same for her once, when she had been so worried that their friendship was falling apart, that she was going to end up left behind. She probably hadn’t even known how much that had meant to You. How happy it had made her, and how much it had hurt at the same time. Tonight, maybe she would finally come to realize.

You’s shoes slapped against the ground with each step that she took, carrying her down the street until she saw the Takami family’s Inn coming into view. She was out of breath, but when she finally came to a stop in the small alley between The Takami inn and the Sakurauchi’s apartment building, she didn’t waste a single moment before calling out.

“Chika-chan!” shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth to project her voice. “Chikan-chaaaan!” A light clicked on inside her room. The door slid open. Chika stepped out, looking dazed, like she had just woken up. She probably had.

“You-chan?” she called back down, although she was keeping her voice to a loud whisper. “What are you doing here? Mito-nee’s gonna kill us if you keep shouting!”

“I don’t care!” You insisted. “I love you!”

“Eh? I love you too!” Chika hissed back. “That doesn’t explain why you’re here!”

“No, I mean- I mean I’m _in love_ with you!” You corrected. That seemed to be enough to get it through Chika’s skull, and for a moment, for once in her life, she was silent. She was frozen for a few seconds, and then she looked back over her shoulder towards the door to her room. To the house where everyone else was still sleeping. To a hallway that she probably couldn’t creep down without getting caught. So, turning her attention back to You, she said something that was probably very, very stupid.

“Catch me!” You only had a fraction of a second to process what she had just heard before she was watching the love of her life vault over the edge of her balcony, suddenly plummeting towards the ground.

“Chika!” she blurted out, scrambling forward and just barely managing to throw her arms out in front of her in time. Well-defined muscles flexed as she caught Chika, and suddenly she was thankful for all of the pushups she had done during practice and all of the hours she had spent help her father move cargo on and off of his boat.

“What the hell were you thinking??” You demanded. “You could’ve broken your legs!”

“But you caught me!”

“But if I hadn’t-!”

“But I knew you would.” As she said that Chika offered up the same warm smile than You had seen so many times over the course of her life, and it still took her breath away the same way it had the very first time she had ever realized that she had fallen for her best friend. “Now…” Chika went on, wiggling around in You’s grip until the other girl finally set her down on the ground, letting her stand on her own two feet. “I think you have a lot of explaining to do.”

Suddenly the full weight of what she was doing here struck You, and she began to wonder what the hell she was even doing here in the first place. This wasn’t some movie, where she could get the ending she wanted just by wishing for it hard enough. This wasn’t meant to be her happy finale. All she had done by coming here was throw away the best friendship she had ever had, ever would have. Maybe it wasn’t too late to save it.

“S-Sorry,” she stammered out, shaking her head and turning away, trying and failing to prevent herself from crying over something as stupid as this. “I just- I shouldn’tve come here. I’m gonna-”

“You!” Chika’s voice startled her from any thoughts that she was already getting lost in, and suddenly she felt a hand grabbing onto her wrist. She was being pulled back in, twisted around, and then she was being pushed against the wall, and then Chika was kissing her.

_And then Chika was kissing her._

It wasn’t how she thought this would go. For all of the times that she had allowed herself to fantasize about what a first kiss with Chika would be like, she never thought it would be like this, squeezed into an alleyway in their pajamas, tears streaming down her cheeks. They didn’t stop when Chika pulled away. They didn’t even stop when she heard her friend whispering to her, “I’m in love with you too.”

“Chika…”

“Please don’t cry…”

“I don’t- I don’t want you doing this because you feel sorry for me.”

“I’m not.”

“I don’t want you taking pity on me.”

“I’m not.”

“You- You never said anything…”

“Neither did you.” Neither had she. And suddenly, she felt so, so stupid for just assuming. Assuming she knew what her best friend wanted. Assuming she knew how this situation would play out. Assuming that Chika would ever leave her over something as stupid as this. Wasting so much time. She threw herself against Chika, wrapping her arms around her best friend, her girlfriend, her _whatever_ they were now, clinging tightly and breaking down into even more tears. At least most of them were happy.

“I don’t like watching you cry,” Chika said, her tone soft and reassuring, hand rubbing up and down You’s back.

“I-I know,” You choked out. “But I can’t stop.”

“That’s alright, then,” Chika promised. “We can wait out here until you do.”


	18. Mari/Riko

Riko didn’t think that she would ever get tired of the view from on top of the Ohara family’s hotel. It was one of the highest points that she could get to in Uchiura, and it gave her a perfect chance to survey everything around her: the waves crashing against the beach before disappearing into endless ocean in one direction, the soft glow of streetlights and illuminated windows in the other, the stars and the moon up overhead. And, out of the corner of her vision, Mari herself, standing there in her nightgown while Riko drank in the sights.

“You really like it up here, don’t you?” Mari commented, a small smile playing at her lips. Riko drew her eyes down from the night sky at that point, returning them to the ocean and walking closer to that edge of the balcony.

“I do,” she admitted, hands resting against the bannister while her fingers wrapped around it. “It helps me think.”

“Oh?” Mari replied, and a moment later Riko was surprised to feel two arms slipping around her waist from behind. Although, actually, not that surprised at all. Riko valued her personal space. Mari did not. Riko had learned to deal with that. “Something on your mind, Riko-chan?”

“Lots of things. But nothing more than usual.”

“Tell me tell me, _tell me!_ ” Mari insisted, switching to English at the very end for emphasis. Riko’s mind was an endlessly intriguing puzzle to her, and it was one that Mari was determined to unravel. She could always tell that there was so much going on inside it, churning away just beneath the surface, but Riko was so reserved and soft spoken most of the time that true glimpses inside it were fleeting occurrences. Beautiful when they happened, but so rare as to constantly leave Mari wanting more. At the very least, though, Mari’s behavior was enough to earn her a small crack in her girlfriend’s composure, and Riko began to laugh softly when she heard that voice in her ear.

“I’m thinking about… The stars,” she confessed. “Constellations. Astrology. Do you believe in that sort of stuff at all?”

“Of course I do!” Mari replied. “It must be real, for Yohane-sama says so!” Riko’s expression immediately flatlined when she heard that, and she looked back over her shoulder at Mari with the most vacant expression she could muster.

“Yohane-sama?”

“Mhmm! The great, dark, wise fallen angel who-”

“You don’t need to humor her when she’s not even here.”

“Lili!” Mari gasped. “What would Yohane-sama say if she knew one of her _little demons_ was speaking about her this way behind her back?”

“Please stop.” Mari giggled mischievously at that point, but was at least kind enough to finally drop her act.

“ _Okay, okay._ Do you believe in astrology, Riko-chan?” Riko’s answer didn’t come immediately, and she ended up turning her gaze back out over the water for a few seconds before saying anything. It seemed as if she were actually taking a moment to ponder the question, unsure of her thoughts on the matter.

“I guess not,” she finally said.

“You guess?”

“I mean… It’s nice to think about,” Riko explained. “That we all have some sort of cosmic destiny, or that there could be these invisible, celestial forces guiding us through life, but… It’s hard for me to believe in. I don’t think I can really make myself believe that our whole lives are decided for us based off of something as simple as the month we’re born in.”

“Mhmm!” Mari agreed. “Besides, it can’t be true, and we have proof of that!”

“Proof?” Riko repeated, brow creasing.

“Yup yup yup! Because Virgos and Geminis aren’t supposed to be compatible, but we’re _totally in love!_ ” Once again, Riko’s expression deadpanned.

“Why do you know my star sign?”

“Why wouldn’t I? It’s not a very big secret,” Mari replied, before dropping her voice to a whisper and raising a hand to block her mouth, as if she were saying this in the middle of a crowded space. “Although people might be pretty surprised if they found out the virgin is reading all those naughty books.”

“That’s not- Those aren’t-!” Riko blurted out, trying to pull away from Mari’s grip, and causing Mari to cackle in delight as she held on even tighter.

“Nope! No escape, Riko-chan! Feel the weight of your sins! _Repent!_ ”

“Why are you like this??”

“You looooove me!”

“Let go so I can throw myself off this roof!”

“Not unless you take me with you!” Eventually Riko slumped forward in defeat, slouching down over the railing in front of her with Mari’s arms still around her.

“You’re the worst,” Riko grumbled.

“But I’m the worst with you,” Mari replied, leaning farther forward to put more of her weight onto Riko’s back. “It’s like you’re that bright, vibrant star up there,” she said, extending an arm past her girlfriend’s head to point up towards the sky. “And I’m the little tiny dim one flickering next to you.”

“Bright?” Riko repeated, twisting her neck to face Mari again. “Vibrant?”

“Hm?”

“Those are the words you’re going with?”

“Is there something wrong with them?” Mari asked, tilting her head in vague confusion.

“You can’t think of any _other_ word you’d want to use to describe stars?”

“Words like what?” Riko sighed at that point, and then, clearing her throat, forced her voice up to the highest pitched imitation of Mari she could muster.

“ _SHINY!_ ” Riko and Mari stared at each other in dead silence for a few seconds after that, Riko’s’ own face quickly returning to its dispassionate neutrality while Mari looked like she was barely managing to contain a bout of violent laughter. Very slowly, Riko turned back around, returning her gaze to the sea. “If you ever tell anyone I did that I’m breaking up with you.”

“Riko-chaaaan,” Mari snickered. “That’s not very _shiny_ of you!”

“I mean it.”

“No you don’t.”

“Try me.”


	19. Chika/Riko

“The first time I ever met you… it was in this very spot. Do you remember that?”

“Mhmm! It was also the first time I saw you take your clothes off!”

“And then you tackled us both into the ocean.”

“I was trying to save you!” Riko laughed softly as she looked out off the end of the dock, letting the ocean water wash up over her feet while her legs dangled over the edge.

“You didn’t do a very good job.”

“I panicked,” Chika whined slumping down and leaning her head up against Riko’s shoulder. Riko just smiled, reaching an arm up to put it around Chika’s own shoulders in turn.

“This was the same place where I told you I love you for the first time too,” she recalled. “I guess a lot of things happened here.” Finding “Aqours” written in the sand. The night they had woken up in pitch black to clean the beaches with the rest of the townspeople of Uchiura. The time Chika stayed up all night practicing the same piece of their routine, over and over again, until she could finally do it. Their first kiss. The time that Chika had loudly declared “I love you so much, someday I’m gonna marry you!” and Riko had blushed so violently she had wanted to throw herself into the ocean to cool off.

“It all feels like so long ago now…”

“That’s because it was,” Riko laughed. “Six years…” Six years and then some since they had started dating. Five years since they had graduated high school. Four years of long distance while they had attended different universities. But now, as Riko felt Chika’s arms wrap around her waist, she didn’t think she could shake Chika off of her even if she wanted to. And she didn’t want to.

“The others still don’t know that we’re back yet, right?” Chika asked.

“Right,” Riko agreed. “They think we don’t get here until tomorrow.” She felt a little bit bad about lying to their old friends like that, so many of whom had still ended up in the same town they had always loved this many years later. But she had (accurately) predicted that as soon as any of them caught wind that the two of them were returning, they would want to see them the moment they arrived. And while Riko and Chika were both just as eager to see their old friends again, they also wanted this one night to themselves first. Just the two of them, and Uchiura, and the ocean, and so many other things they hadn’t shared together in far too long.

“Hey… You know what would really make this night nostalgic?” Chika asked.

“I’m not sure. What?” Riko replied. Looking down, she only noticed the malevolent glint in her girlfriend’s eyes once it was too late. “Chika, don’t you dare!” she shouted, but by then it was already too late. Chika threw herself to the side with her full weight, arms still around Riko, and without enough time to brace herself, Riko immediately went tumbling after. They crashed against the surface of the water with a loud splash that disturbed the relative peace they’d had up until that moment, staying underneath the now-turbulent surface for second or two before they came breaking back through.

“Chika!” Riko huffed, wiping sea from her eyes and pushing her wet hair back out of her face. “Why would you do that??”

“Because now it’s just like the day we first met!” Chika replied, looking quite pleased with herself. She was beaming from ear to ear, and despite the fact that her own hair was sopping wet and sticking down against her face, she didn’t seem the slightest bit bothered. “You’re even acting just as grouchy as you were back then!” she added on, wading forward through the water enough to press a finger against Riko’s nose.

“Maybe I wouldn’t be grouchy so often if you didn’t make such a habit of throwing me into the ocean!”

“Rikooooo,” Chika whined, conjuring up the most exaggerated pout she could muster. “You can’t call it a habit when I’ve only done it twice in six years!”

“Only twice?” Riko repeated. “Are you forgetting about our trip up to Hakodate last summer? Or the time we visited the beach near Tokyo? What about when we went to see Mari-chan in Italy? Or the recreation center at Dia-san’s university?”

“That last one was a pool! That doesn’t count!”

“They all count!”

“I’m sorry Riko,” Chika said, with the tone of voice that implied she really wasn’t sorry at all. She leaned forward to wrap Riko up in a tight hug, pushing her face into her girlfriend’s shoulder. “I loooove yooooooou.” Feeling Chika against her made Riko realize that her girlfriend was just dripping all over her at this point, although given that they were both soaking wet, and still standing in the water, she supposed it didn’t actually matter either way.

“Can we get back to dry land now?” she sighed.

“No!” Chika replied, her grip on Riko suddenly growing tighter. “Not until you say it back!”

“Chika.”

“Say it!”

“Chika!”

“Say iiiit!”

“Fine!” Riko huffed. “I love you too! Now let’s go!”

“Not yet!” Chika insisted, still standing her ground. “You love me too, _aaaand?_ ”

“What ‘and?’ What else do you want me to say??”

“You love me too _aaaand_ I’m the best girlfriend in the entire world _and_ we’re gonna be together forever _and_ -”  
“I’m not saying those things if you try to make me say them,” Riko huffed, starting to twist around so she could attempt to squirm free of Chika’s grip.

“Fiiiine,” Chika conceded. “Then just say you love me one more time.”

“Alright,” Riko sighed. “I love you. Happy?”

“Mhmm!” Chika replied, grinning up at Riko. “Very happy.”


	20. Ruby/Yoshiko

“Did you know the average human has five and a half liters of blood in their body? And you only need to lose three or four pints before you die.”

“Uh, y-yeah. Why are you telling me this, Ruby-chan?”

“I just thought it was interesting.” Yoshiko looked up from the book she had been reading to see Ruby sitting on her bed at the other edge of her room, wearing a smile on her face that was  _ incredibly  _ unsettling giving the nature of what she had just said, and suddenly Yoshiko regretted letting Ruby look through all of the creepy tomes she had scattered around her room and stuffed into her bookshelves. Most of them were whimsical books about rituals and demons, all of them of questionable credibility, but a handful of them were a bit more realistic and practical. Like the one Ruby was reading at the moment.

“You should be careful the next time you do a sacrifice,” Ruby went on. “I wouldn’t want you losing too much blood.”

“Sacrifice??” Yoshiko blurted out in response, causing Ruby to giggle. “Just what sorts of rituals do you think I do in here anyway??”

“But don’t you have to give blood to summon a demon?” Ruby asked. “I thought that was how you made a pact with them!”

“W-Well, sure! Some demons!” Yoshiko hastily replied. “But not all of them! I never had to give blood to you or Lili or Zuramaru!”

“Hey, Yohane-sama?” Ruby asked, tilting her head as a thought popped into her mind rather suddenly. “Why have you never given me a nickname?” The question gave Yoshiko a moment of pause, and she actually looked sort of surprised for a few seconds, until a smile spread over her face and her ominous laughter started to echo throughout the room.

“Well, why did you never tell me that you wanted one, little demon?” she replied, crossing her arms over her chest with two fingers covering her eye, striking the same pose she always seemed so fond of. And then, a moment later, her hand was shooting out, and one of those fingers was pointing at Ruby across the room. “I dub you:  _ PRETTY BOMBER HEAD! _ ” The suggestion was met with silence, and an entirely flat look from Ruby.

“That was Mari-chan’s idea.”

“Then help me come up with something better!” Yoshiko huffed, stomping her foot against the floor. “Otherwise you don’t get to complain!” Ruby tilted her head back in the other direction at that point, looking thoughtful as she tried to come up with something. There were still quite a few books sitting on the bed near her, aside from just the one she had been reading, and after a moment she leaned over, starting to look through them

“Well… You could name me after a different demon,” Ruby suggested, opening up one of the many texts Yoshiko had on that matter. “But none of these are very cute…”

“Demon names aren’t meant to be cute! They’re meant to be intimidating!” Yoshiko protested. “They’re meant to strike fear into the hearts of all who hear them!”

“But I don’t want people to be afraid of me!” Ruby puffed her cheeks out as she contemplated this issue, scrunching her brow down into a determined expression. A name that sounded like a demon, without being too scary… Then again, maybe she was getting too hung up on the entire “sounds like a demon” part in the first place. It wasn’t like Lili or Zuramaru had particularly hellish rings to them.

“What about… Rubrum!” Yoshiko suggested, and Ruby’s face lit up with excitement.

“I like that!” Ruby agreed, clapping her hands together and scooting closer to the edge of the bed. “What does it mean?”

“It’s Latin,” Yoshiko explained, grinning smugly and looking quite proud of herself. “It means: red!” And suddenly, all of Ruby’s excitement was gone.

“You can’t just call me red because my hair is red,” she huffed, narrowing her eyes at Yoshiko again. “I want a better name.”

“Well I couldn’t translate Ruby! It would still just be Ruby!”

“Then pick something else!”

“Okay, okay!” Yoshiko huffed, before lowering her head and raising her fingers to her temples as she attempted to focus. “Let me think…” A silence settled in between the two of them as Yoshiko racked her brain trying to come up with something, and Ruby simply stayed quiet, watching her girlfriend from across the room. She had quite literally ended up on the edge of her seat with anticipation as she waited to hear what Yoshiko would come up with next, even though she knew full well there was like, a 90% chance it would be something stupid.

“I’ve got it!” Yoshiko finally declared, sticking a finger up into the air as her great idea struck her. “Your new name will be: Ignis!”

“Ignis?” Ruby repeated, twisting her mouth up curiously. It didn’t have the immediate ring that she would have liked, but she was willing to keep it on the table for now. “What does it mean?”

“It means fire! Because-”

“Because my hair is red like fire,” Ruby interrupted. “I feel like you’re really hung up on that, Yoshiko-chan.”

“Well obviously it’ll be something to do with your hair!” Yoshiko said defensively. “It’s the prettiest thing about you!” She turned up her nose at that point, and only a moment later did she realize what she had just said. “I mean- the most noticeable! It’s what people will focus on!” Despite her hasty efforts to correct herself, though, a sly grin was already spreading over Ruby’s face.

“Yoshiko-chaaan,” she hummed, hopping off of the bed and bouncing towards her girlfriend. “Do you really like my hair that much?”

“I didn’t say that!” Yoshiko objected. “I just meant-!” She was cut off, though, by the feeling of Ruby’s hands clapping in on either side of her face, squishing her cheeks and bringing Yoshiko to look right at her.

“Well if it’s not my hair,” Ruby said, “then what  _ is  _ the prettiest thing about me?” Yoshiko froze up when Ruby asked that, realizing she had been caught with no way out, and she could already feel her cheeks heating up underneath Ruby’s hands.

“That’s- I don’t think about that stuff!” she tried to claim, only to feel Ruby squeeze her cheeks even harder.

“ _ Yoshiko-chan _ .”

“Nnng, fine! You have really pretty eyes and I like looking at them!” Yoshiko blurted out, before shutting her own tightly. “Is that good enough for you??” Rather than finding a response in the form of words, though, Yoshiko had her question answered by the feeling of Ruby’s lips brushing against her own. That just made her face burn even brighter still, causing her to shrink down until Ruby finally set her free.

“You have pretty eyes, too,” Ruby replied, causing Yoshiko to cautiously open one. “But my  _ favorite  _ thing about you… is this!” she said, pushing a finger against Yoshiko’s nose. “It’s cute! I always wanna do that when I’m around you.”

“Sh-Shut up,” Yoshiko grumbled, pivoting and turning her back to Ruby. “You’re embarrassing me.”

“I know,” Ruby giggled, wrapping her arms around Yoshiko from behind. “But that just makes you cuter.”


	21. Chika/Dia

“Dia-chaaaaaan.”

“Yes?”

“I’m bored.”

“So you’ve said.” Dia pulled her gaze away from the panting in front of her and over towards Chika instead, looking at her girlfriend out of the corner of her eye. Chika’s posture was so slouched it was a miracle she was even still managing to stand upright. “You’re the one who wanted to come here, you know.”

“Because I didn’t know how boring it would be!” When Chika had heard art museum, she had thought it sounded fun. Art was cool, after all! She liked art! But to her, art was bright, and colorful, and vibrating, and exciting. It wasn’t a bunch of old, stuffy paintings, like the ones Dia seemed to manage to be so captivated by. “All this stuff is so ooooold. Like you,” she teased.

“I’m only a year older than you,” Dia chided, eyebrow twitching slightly. “And the history is what makes it interesting. There’s a story behind each of these paintings.”

“There’s a story behind which shirt I decided to wear this morning, too,” Chika huffed. “But that doesn’t make it interesting.”

“It might be interesting. What’s the story?”

“Well, originally I was gonna wear my white blouse, because I like the way it looks with these shorts. But then I remembered that the vending machine by the bus stop sells mikan soda!” Chika explained. “I knew that if I walked by it I wouldn’t be able to resist buying some-” which she hadn’t- “and drinking it on the bus. Except the bus is really bumpy! And if we hit a huge bump and I spilled I didn’t want it showing up on my shirt for the rest of the day. So, dark blue instead! That way the stains don’t show!”

“...You actually thought about all of that?”

“Of course! I wanted to be sure I looked nice for our date!” Dia wasn’t sure how to respond to that, although she supposed she felt flattered? Probably. Chika was a master of these gestures that were generally thoughtful but still just a little bit weird, and it always kept Dia on her toes.

“Well, for the record,” Dia said, turning her attention back towards the painting, “I do think you look quite nice.” Her focus didn’t last long, though, since immediately after she said that she felt Chika crashing into her from behind, arms tossed around her shoulders.

“You look extra pretty today too, Dia-chan!”

“H-Hey!” Dia grunted, stumbling forward as Chika came crashing into her from behind. “Be more careful! The art is delicate!”

“Why are you always so uptight?” Chika hummed, leaning against Dia’s back. Once the initial impact of the surprise hug wore off Dia was at least able to stand upright without fear of tumbling forward into the display, although she was still mildly peeved by the amount of weight that was now hanging off her shoulders.

“I’m not uptight,” she protested. “Following the general rules of how to behave in an art museum doesn’t make me uptight.”

“But you’re  _ always _ like this,” Chika insisted. “Even when we’re not in art museum! Why don’t you ever let yourself have fun?”

“I’m having fun right now.”

“I mean real fun! Like, at an arcade! Or a shopping mall!”

“Different people have different ideas of what they consider fun,” Dia replied, tone becoming a little more stern. “Everything you’ve just described sounds crowded and loud and unpleasant.”

“You know what else is loud and crowded?” Chika asked, a grin spreading over her face. “Idol concerts. And you like those plenty!” Dia tensed a little bit, and she stared straight ahead for a moment before suddenly trying to shove Chika off of her. Chika wasn’t budging, though.

“That’s- That’s not the same thing!” she argued. “That’s different!”

“Different  _ how _ ?”

“It just is! And besides!” Dia huffed. “There’s a difference between being up on stage and being out in a crowd!”

“So you’re saying you wouldn’t go to an idol concert if you weren’t performing?” Chika realized she had Dia backed into a corner now, and she was having far too much fun with it. “If μ's did a reunion tour you wouldn’t take Ruby-chan to go see them?”

“You’re putting words in my mouth!”

“She would probably be so heartbroken!” Chika giggled, before pitching her voice up to the best imitation of Ruby she could muster. “Pleeeease can we go see them, onee-chan?”

“Don’t call me that!” Dia shouted, finally succeeding in shoving Chika off of her. It seemed like they were officially at the point of making a scene, though, several heads turning towards them at that public display of antagonism. “That’s gross!” Chika seemed quite proud of herself at this point, laughing and grinning triumphantly while just barely holding back the urge to say it a few more times.

“Fiiine. But next time we go out I get to pick where!”

“You picked this time!”

“I’ll pick somewhere better!”

“Ugh… Fine!” Dia huffed. “But if you pick anywhere too loud or too chaotic I reserve the right to leave part way through.”

“Okayyy,” Chika agreed, sneaking up behind Dia and slipping her arms around her girlfriend again. “But if you try to leave, I also have the right to hang off you like this the entire time and make sure you don’t go anywhere.”

“You’re very annoying.”

“You mean like, it’s annoying how charming I am?”

“I do not.”


	22. Kanan/Yoshiko

“...And right around there is where Venus should be. It’s not bright enough for you to see it tonight, though.”

“You know a lot more about astronomy than I would have thought.”

“Astronomy and astrology are interconnected,” Yoshiko replied, tracing her finger along the invisible paths of the constellations that hovered above them. “You can’t learn about one without learning about the other.” The two girls were laying on their backs on the slope of a grassy hill, staring up at the night sky that stretched out endlessly above them. Kanan had a firm grip on the hand that wasn’t pointing up towards the stars, and she didn’t seem to have any intention of letting go any time soon.

“Are they? I thought astrology was more… Y’know,” she said, making a vague gesture with her free hand. “Mystical.”

“I didn’t say they’re the same. Just connected. You can’t learn about astrology without knowing some things about constellations and star placement and all that.”

“Astrology also has to do with star signs and stuff, right? So what’s mine?”

“When’s your birthday?” Yoshiko’s own question was met with silence, and after a second or two passed she pulled her eyes away from the sky so she could look over and see why Kanan wasn’t answering her. She was greeted by with the sight of the other girl making a very displeased face, narrowed eyes glaring holes into her.

“You don’t know your own girlfriend’s birthday?”

“Don’t make it sound so bad!” Yoshiko blurted out in protest. “I’m just not good at remembering that sort of thing! It’s not like you remember my-”

“July 13th.”

“It’s not my fault you have a better memory than me!” After holding her glare for another moment Kanan did let it soften, though, laughing quietly as she leaned back to look at the sky again.

“February 10th. So what does that make me?”

“That’s Aquarius,” Yoshiko replied. “The water bearer Ganymede.”

“So you can remember all that but not your girlfriend’s birthday?”

“I said I was sorry!”

“Actually, you didn’t.” Then, after laughing again, “That’s kinda lame though, isn’t it? I mean, aren’t some of the other signs are things like lions and scorpions? And I get a person who carries water? I feel cheated.”

“Ganymede wasn’t just any random person,” Yoshiko replied, before chuckling under her breath. Her voice suddenly got deeper, and Kanan already knew exactly what that meant. “He was a sheep herder, tending to his flocks when the gods themselves selected him to join them on Mount Olympus. Much like how you, the humble young girl tending to her family’s shop, were selected by the fallen angel Yohane to-”

“I’m two years older than you.”

“Fallen angels are timeless!”

“Then I’m timeless plus two years.”

“You’re making it really hard to be nice to you about this!” Yoshiko huffed. “Next time I’ll just let you think you have a dumb sign. It’s still better than mine, anyway.”

“Oh yeah?” Kanan asked. “I’ll be the judge of that. What’s yours?”

“Cancer. It’s a crab whose only role in the myths was to get stomped to death by Heracles. Why do I get something lame like that?” she whined. “I should be a Leo! King of the zodiac! I deserve that!” After that bout of protest Yoshiko found Kanan moving closer, leaning up against her and propping herself up on her girlfriend’s chest while smiling down at her.

“Well even if you’re not the king of the zodiac,” she replied, “you still get to be the queen of my heart. That’s worth something, right?”

“Not as much as being a Leo.” Kanan’s expression turned sharp again when she heard that, and then she was moving back off of Yoshiko, sitting upright.

“Fine then. You don’t get a cool zodiac sign  _ or  _ a cool girlfriend.”

“Wait! I didn’t mean it!” Kanan started to stand up from her spot on the grass, but she didn’t get very far before she felt a pair of arms around her waist dragging her back down. “Don’t leave!”

“Well  _ apparently _ my love isn’t worth anything to you.”

“I didn’t mean it that way!” Yoshiko insisted. Kanan was slowly managing to get the rest of the way to her feet, although with Yoshiko still hanging off her waist, she realized that even if she did stand up completely, it wasn’t like she would be going anywhere.

“Then explain to me,” she replied. “How  _ did _ you mean it?”

“I just meant, like-!” Yoshiko started to say, although as she looked for a way to explain herself, she quickly came to realize that there really wasn’t one. “I’m sorry…” she finally whined out, hanging off of Kanan’s waist and drooping her head into her hip. Kanan laughed softly at that point, reaching down to ruffle her girlfriend’s hair.

“Alright. I forgive you,” she replied. “But if you ever say something like that again I’m gonna deck you so hard you’ll be seeing a whole new set of constellations.”

“...Huh?”

“Because… Stars,” Kanan explained. “Y’know, like, you see stars when you get hit? And constellations are made of stars. So…”

“You can’t just make up a new set of constellations,” Yoshiko grumbled. “They’ve been around for hundreds of years.”

“That wasn’t the point! Just… Forget about it,” Kanan groaned. “It was dumb.”

“Yeah, it was.”

“Hey! What did I  _ just _ warn you about?”

“Ah! No! I’m sorry! Lucifer protect me!” Yoshiko pulled her arms away from Kanan and put them up to block her head, shutting her eyes while preparing for her girlfriend’s wrath to rain down upon her. Much to her surprise, though, that didn’t happen, and rather than being met with a fist to the skull she found herself on the receiving end of a kiss to the forehead. Yoshiko made a surprised noise as she felt that, cautiously opening one eye to see that Kanan was crouched down in front of her, smiling softly.

“I love you,” she said.

“O-Oh,” Yoshiko replied, blushing faintly as she glanced away. “Uh… I love you too.”

“Seriously though. I’ll do it next time.”

“N-Noted.”


	23. Kanan/Mari

When Mari had suggested that the two of them travel up into the mountains for a ski vacation, Kanan had been picturing something simple, perhaps a little charming and rustic. If she had been taking this trip on her own budget she would probably be staying at the cheapest room in the hotel, with one bed and a tiny little shower, and she would be fine with it, because she wouldn’t be spending any time in the room anyway. With Mari coming along, though, she knew the other girl would insist on upping the budget, and so Kanan ended up with visions of a cozy cabin up on the mountaintop somewhere, with a nice bathtub and a fireplace they could curl up next to after a long day of being out in the cold. It sounded nice enough.

As it turned out, she was still setting her expectations too low.

They were staying in the hotel at the resort, true to Kanan’s original vision. Unlike what she had pictured, though, they had ended up in one of the nicest rooms the place had to offer. Of course, it still wouldn’t be like Mari to just book the penthouse and call it a day. No. That would be too obvious, and too simple. Instead, Mari had surpassed even her usual level of nonsense by renting them the honeymoon suite, a gesture that Kanan found to be entirely pointless and unnecessary, and maybe just a little bit sweet at the same time. The receptionist at the front desk had probably been pretty confused when two high school girls showed up to check into the honeymoon suite, but hey, that was to be expected.

The inside of the suite was about everything that Kanan would have expected. Everything was in shades of red and pink, from the walls to the curians to the carpet, to the sheets on the comically large heart shaped bed, right down to the bottle of bubble bath sitting on the rim of the heart shaped jacuzzi next to said heart shaped bed. It was all so sickeningly over the top, and the only thing making it palatable was how much Mari seemed to enjoy it. Kanan honestly couldn’t tell if she was being genuine or if this was all ironic and she was just playing it perfectly straight, but it didn’t matter either way. The enthusiasm was infectious.

“ _ So bouncy! _ ” Mari squealed out in delight, throwing herself onto the bed at full force. True to her claim, hitting the mattress caused her to spring back up into the air by a considerable amount, tossing up most of the rose petals that had been scattered there from the moment they had walked into the room as well. Mari waited until her bouncing had finally come to a stop before she rolled over onto her back, then sat up at the edge of the bed, wearing a vibrant smile. “Come bounce with me, Kanan!”

“You know that’s bad for the bed,” Kanan replied, although even then she was already approaching it. “If you break it the hotel’s gonna make you pay for it.” And then, with utter disregard for what she had just said, Kanan threw herself onto the bed as well, hitting the mattress right next to where Mari was sitting and bouncing off it a few times. She landed on her back, staring up at the ceiling, although just a moment later that view was blocked by Mari leaning into her field of vision.

“Comfortable?” Mari asked, peering down at her girlfriend. Kanan answered the question by reaching up to loop her arms around Mari’s waist, tugging the other girl the rest of the way down on top of her. Mari squealed as she fell, laughing happily all while.

“Yeah, I guess I could see myself getting used to this,” Kanan replied. Hearing that caused a smirk to appear on Mari’s face, and she leaned down even closer, starting to walk her fingers up Kanan’s arm towards her shoulder.

“Well you know…” she hummed, dropping her voice down to a much softer tone. “We could just spend the entire weekend in here. We wouldn’t have to leave this room a single time…”

“Nice try,” Kanan interrupted. “But I still planning on being up bright and early tomorrow. And you’re coming with me! Set your alarm, five-thirty!”

“Kanaaaaaan,” Mari whined out, immediately dropping any pretense of seduction as she buried her face into Kanan’s shoulder. “What’s the point of being on vacation if we don’t sleep in?”

“What’s the point of being at a ski resort if we’re not gonna ski?” Kanan retorted. “We’ll have plenty of time here in the evenings, but I came here to enjoy the trails. Not to sit around in a hotel room all day. Besides,” she added on, reaching up to ruffle Mari’s hair. “I bet you’re gonna look adorable when you’re all bundled up in ski gear.”

“Excuse you!” Mari huffed, lifting her head up enough to scowl at Kanan. “All of my gear is designer athletic winter wear, imported from France. I won’t be adorable. I’ll be  _ stylish! _ ” she insisted, which simply prompted Kanan to roll her eyes.

“Alright, you’ll look stylish. Until you’ve been out there all day and you’re freezing your toes off.”

“But that’s why I have you to snuggle up to!” Mari replied, pushing her cheek up against Kanan’s. “And why we have a nice warm room, with a hot tub,” she went on, before gasping sharply and whipping her head back up to meet Kanan’s gaze. “A hot tub we could be using right now! And we’re not! Let’s fix that!” Before Kanan had a chance to say anything else Mari was jolting upright and bouncing off the bed, running over towards the tub. And once again, Kanan was left rolling her eyes as she sat up as well.

“Don’t you think it’s spoiling ourselves to enjoy that before we’ve even been out in the snow?” Kanan teased.

“Maybe! But the point of vacation is spoiling ourselves!” Mari insisted. She was already twisting the knobs on the tub, letting the water start to run. “So let’s fill this tub up, make ourselves niiice and cozy, order some room service, and  _ pig out! _ ”

“Order room service  _ after _ we get into the tub?” Kanan replied, crouching down behind Mari to drape her arms around her girlfriend's shoulders.

“Mhmm!”

“You don’t see a problem with that?”

“If we’re lucky it might get us free room service,” Mari whispered, tilting her head up to flash Kanan a conspiratorial look.

“How about this,” Kanan replied. “We fill the tub, we order the room service  _ before  _ we get in, and then once the food is here, we can eat all the hamburgers and ice cream sundaes we want inside the bath.”

“Deal!” Beginning to stand, Mari reached towards the room service menu sitting on the bedside table. Halfway there, though, she paused, gasping again as a look of feigned surprised crossed over her face. “But, wait! Kanan-chan! I didn’t pack a bathing suit!”

“Yeah,” Kanan replied, laughing softly. “Neither did I.”


	24. Chika/Mari

“ _ I la- _ ”

“ _ No no. Lo. _ ”

“ _ Lo… Lovu. _ ”

“ _ Love. _ ”

“ _ Lovu. _ ”

“ _ Love. _ ”

“Mari-chaaaan,” Chika groaned out in defeat, flopping forward on the table between them. “This is haaaard!”

“You’re the one that wanted me to teach you,” Mari giggled. “I can’t teach you if you just give up at the first sign of a struggle! We haven’t even reached any of the hard stuff yet!” If Chika was serious about wanting to learn English they could get around to that eventually, but Mari had a distinct feeling she just wanted to learn a few fun phrases like “ _ I love you _ ” or “ _ You look pretty, _ ” so she could say those things when they were being mushy. Mari doubted Chika actually had an interest in becoming fluent- which was probably for the best, since she wasn’t convinced she was the most qualified teacher in the first place.

“I’m not giving up,” Chika replied, puffing her cheeks out in protest. “I’m just saying it’s difficult!”

“Come on, sound it out,” Mari urged. “ _ Lo. _ ”

“ _ Lo, _ ” Chika grumbled.

“ _ Ve. _ ”

“ _ Vu. _ ”

“ _ V _ **_e_ ** _. _ ”

“ _ Vvvvvve. _ ”

“See?” Mari exclaimed, clapping her hands together in celebration. “ _ Very nice! _ Now put it all together!”

“ _ I looooooove yyyou, _ ” Chika slowly said, prompting even more applause from her girlfriend.

“ _ I love you too, my pretty pretty princess! _ ” That second part did, of course, go right over Chika’s head, although it caused a look of defeated irritation to appear on her face all the same.

“Now you’re just showing off.”

“Maybe! But if you just keep practicing a little bit every day you’ll understand it all soon enough too!” Mari promised. “And then you can give me cute little nicknames in English and nooooobody else will understand them! It will be like our little secret!”

“If we start talking in English in front of everyone else they’ll be able to assume.”

“But they won’t know for certain! That’s what makes the secret so much fun,” she giggled, letting the corners of her mouth curl up into a sly smile. “I could say all sorts of inappropriate things to you right in front of Dia-san and she wouldn’t have a clue!”

“Oh! Yeah!” Chika replied, clapping her hands together and jolting back upright with a level of enthusiasm Mari hadn’t quite expected. “You should teach me to swear in English!”

“Hmmmmm.” Humming as she thought that over, Mari tapped her finger against her chin and put on the most exaggerated expression of contemplation she could scrounge up. “I could teach you right now. Oooor… We could use it as motivation!”

“Motivation?” Chika repeated, tilting her head.

“That’s right! Motivation for learning real phrases! Every time you learn something new and productive, I’ll teach you something a little naughty on top of it. That sounds fair, doesn’t it?” While not as fun as simply being taught swear words flat out, Chika could at least agree that it was a balanced exchange, and she began to nod eagerly.

“Alright! Teach me something else then!” The sooner she learned to say something real, the sooner she could learn to say words Dia would absolutely never approve of. Once again, Mari made a thoughtful expression, contemplating what phrase to work on next. A few seconds of consideration passed before she stuck a finger up into the air, acting like a cartoon character who had just had a light bulb flicker on over their head.

“Aha! Repeat after me,” she instructed, before starting to sound another sentence out very slowly. “ _ I am very pretty _ .” Chika scrunched her face up, listening carefully before she hesitantly started trying to repeat what Mari had said.

“ _ I am… Ve-ry… Pu… _ ”

“ _ Pretty. _ ”

“ _ Pu-re-tty.” _

“Mhmm! Now put it all together.”

“ _ Puretty. _ ”

“ _ Pretty _ .”

“ _ Pretty. _ ”

“Very good!” Mari cheered, clapping her hands again. “See? That’s not so hard!”

“What did I just say anyway?” When Chika asked that Mari grinned again, tapping her fingers together like some sort of comic book villain.

“ _ Watashi wa totemo kireidesu _ ,” she replied, immediately causing Chika’s face to turn a bit redder.

“Mari-chan!” she protested. “You can’t trick me into saying something like that in another language! That’s no fair!”

“But it’s true!” Mari replied. “You are!”

“That’s still underhanded,” Chika huffed, slouching down and crossing her arms. She only stayed grumpy for a second or two, though, before remembering the other end of the bargain, and getting excited all over again. “I learned something new though! So teach me a swear!”

“Patience, young student,” Mari replied, wagging a finger as she scolded Chika. “Before I teach you this, you have to promise me something veeery important, okay?”

“No fair! You can’t change the rules now!”

“But this is vital! If I teach you these words, you have to promise that you’ll ONLY use them to torment Dia, and that you’ll NEVER say them in front of poor, impressionable little Ruby-chan. Can you do that?”

“Of course!”

“Alright,” Mari said. “In that case listen carefully! And repeat after me.” She paused there, taking a deep breath, before: “ _ FU- _ ”


	25. Riko/Ruby

The sound of a piano echoed out from the music room, cascading into the hall and spreading out to fill the school. The notes strolled forth at a leisurely pace, slow yet deliberate, melding together to form a pleasant melody all the same. One by one they came, each falling into a perfect order- until a single rebellious note stepped sharply out of line.

“Oh,” Ruby said, scrunching up her face as the erroneous sound fell on her ears. “That was wrong.”

“That’s alright,” Riko replied. “You were doing really well. Try it again.” The two girls were sitting in the music room of their school, although the rest of the building had long since emptied out. They were quite likely the only two people left at this point, save, perhaps, for a groundskeeper that was still going around straightening everything up after the day. Despite the fact that the room was incredibly spacious, and even the piano bench itself was decently long, the two of them were sitting right next to each other, shoulders brushing up against one another as Ruby played.

There was sheet music sitting on the top of the piano in front of them, although honestly, Ruby hadn’t been using it that much. She had been learning more from watching Riko go through the piece, committing as much as she could to memory before making her own attempt to mimic her girlfriend’s actions. She found it easier to learn that way.

At Riko’s encouragement Ruby nodded, taking a moment to mentally reset before she started to let her fingers work their way across the keys once again. She started out just like before- the same timing, the same pace, the same gentle song rising up from the piano and filling the room. Riko kept her eyes on Ruby’s hands as she watched the other girl play, carefully studying the movements, while Ruby herself seemed to zone out, finding it easier to go through the motions when she wasn’t focused on anything in particular. At first all was going well, but as she made her way up to the same part of the song, the same note ended up falling out of place for the second time in a row. The sudden sharp sound brought Ruby’s performance to an immediate halt, cheeks puffing out as she huffed softly.

“This part is hard…” she murmured.

“Here,” Riko responded. She reached out, laying her hands over the smaller girl’s own, fingers lining up one to one. Without saying anything else she began to play, moving Ruby’s hands along with her as she did so. It was, of course, harder to hit the keys when she was playing them by proxy, but the song was simple enough and Riko was experienced enough that she was able to get through it all the same. She started a few measures before the section that had been giving Ruby trouble, proceeding right past the note she kept getting hung up on, and playing a little bit further before stopping.

“Does that help?” she asked, finally lifting her eyes from the keys to look over at Ruby once she was finished.

“I think so, yeah,” Ruby replied. As Riko removed her hands Ruby lined her fingers back up on the keys herself, starting to play the same small section Riko had just shown her, rather than starting from the beginning of the song. When she reached the same note it tripped her up yet again, but rather than get frustrated this time she started playing through those couple of notes a few times in a row, hammering them out until she could finally get through the small sequence without error. From there she backed up further, starting from the same point Riko had started from. Riko was silent all the while, simply allowing Ruby to play without interruption. And it quickly became clear that her little drill had worked- this time, she was able to get through the section that had been giving her trouble without tripping over her notes, playing just a little past it before stopping.

“See?” Riko said, looking up at Ruby again, giving a smile to match her words of encouragement. “Do you think you can play through the whole song now? From the beginning?”  
“Can we go get food after I do?” Ruby replied, tilting her head sideways slightly to bump it against Riko’s. Riko laughed softly in response, before nodding.

“Alright,” she agreed. “Give it one try and then we’ll go get something to eat.” That seemed to be sufficient motivation for Ruby to sit back up straight, placing her fingers on the keys and starting to play one more time. The notes seemed to come a little more comfortably this time, the extra bit of practice clearly already paying off, although Riko still felt just a little bit anxious as Ruby slowly came up on the same section that had been giving her trouble all day. One note at a time, it crept closer and closer, until finally…

The same jarring sound of a key pressed when it was supposed to be cut against her ears. Ruby’s face scrunched up in frustration, and Riko could hear her mutter a word Dia wouldn’t have approved of under her breath.

“Hey,” Riko said softly, reaching up to place a hand against Ruby’s back. “It’s alright. Maybe sleeping on it will help. We can try again tomorrow.”

“Right,” Ruby agreed, nodding faintly as she reached up to pull the cover back into place over the keys and gather up her sheet music. Riko could tell that she was frustrated and disappointed by this outcome, but she also knew Ruby well enough to know this wouldn’t last long. She would be bouncing back up in no time.

“Come on,” Riko urged, reaching for her girlfriend’s hand as they both rose from the bench. “I owe you food.” And even that little promise was enough to get the corners of Ruby’s mouth curling up ever so slightly as their fingers interlaced.

“Okay,” Ruby replied. “But I get to pick where we go?”

“Yeah,” Riko said, laughing softly. “I think that’s fair.”


	26. Hanamaru/Yoshiko

Hanamaru hummed softly to herself as she swept her broom back and forth across the wooden floor, pushing away the dust that had gathered up in the corners of the room over time. The temple was dimly lit by this point in the evening, and it was past the time where anyone else was likely to be coming by. At the moment, it was just her and-

“Hehehehe… Do you feel this dark energy, Zuramura? Something wicked is brewi- OW!”

“I told you not to say things like that. This is a holy place.” Hanamaru had turned the broom on the self-proclaimed fallen angel, hitting her on the top of the head with it to silence her sacrilegious claims. Blunt, but it seemed to have worked.

“I didn’t even say anything that bad!” Yoshiko whined, scrunching down and rubbing at her head in the place she had been struck. “I don’t think Buddhism would approve of you hitting me like that!”

“It wouldn’t approve of you slacking either, zura,” Hanamaru chided. “How much sweeping have you done?”

“...Some,” Yoshiko whined out in response, shrinking in on herself. She had gotten roped into helping her girlfriend out with her duties around the temple, under the promise that the sooner these got finished up, the sooner they would be able to go out and enjoy the rest of the evening together. Foolishly, Hanamaru had actually thought this would be a good idea. Now that Yoshiko was here, though, she was starting to get the feeling like letting the other girl “help” her like this would probably make everything take even longer than it would have if she had just done it by herself.

“Maybe once I’m done with my part I’ll go out by myself,” she decided, acting like she was just thinking out loud. “And you can stay here on your own until you’re done with your section, zura.”

“Hey, no fair!” came Yoshiko’s immediate protest. “I don’t even have to help you out with this, you know! I’m doing it out of the goodness of my heart!”

“You’re doing it so you can take me out on a date.” Hanamaru’s tone flatlined as she said that, and Yoshiko shrunk down as she realized she was being called out. It was true, of course, but she didn’t appreciate having it thrown in her face like that.

“Well- You should want me taking you out on a date!” she insisted. “That’s what girlfriends are supposed to do!”

“I’d be more excited if you got back to sweeping.”

“Fine!” With a loud, dramatic huff Yoshiko turned back to her side of the room, setting about her task once again. Even though Hanamaru wasn’t looking, she could tell from the sound of the bristles against the wooden floor that Yoshiko was going at her chore with a renewed sense of vigor. That said, she had a feeling it was coming more out of a sense of spite than one of true motivation. But hey, whatever worked.

The sweeping, at least, didn’t take that much longer. While the main room of the temple was wide and spacious, the only areas they really had to worry about were right up against the walls, where the dust liked to gather and hide from view. Soon enough they had cleaned up the majority of it, and Hanamaru looked out with a satisfied expression as she gathered up the brooms to return them to the little supply closet.

“Alright!” Yoshiko called out, voice climbing just high enough to earn her another glare from Hanamaru. “How much other stuff do we have to do before we’re finished?”

“We just have to lock everything up, zura,” Hanamaru replied. “And then we’re done.”

“Then let’s get to it! Give me the keys and I’ll take care of everth- OW!” Yoshiko had assumed that once the brooms were put away she would be safe from any further torment, but that turned out not to be the case. Hanamaru had taken “Give me the keys” in the loosest sense of the phrase, tossing them through the air and letting them clink right against Yoshiko’s forehead before they landed on the floor.

“I told you to keep your voice down,” Hanamaru reminded her girlfriend, pressing a finger up to her own lips in a shushing motion. “Just because no one is here doesn’t mean this isn’t still a place of worship, zura.”

“If you want me to be quiet stop hitting me with things!” Yoshiko whined, aggressively stomping her feet against the ground as she rubbed the sore spot on her forehead. “I make a lot of noise when I get hurt!”

“Pick up the keys,” was all Hanamaru said in response, motioning towards where they had fallen. Leaving her girlfriend to take care of that she started to walk towards the doors, and Yoshiko scrambled to scoop the keys up before following after her.

It was already starting to get dark by the time the got outside, and thanks to that Yoshiko had to fumble around a few times before she was actually able to fit the key into the lock and get the building closed up (although, truthfully, she was surprised Hanamaru even trusted her with a responsibility like that in the first place. She had fully expected her girlfriend to take the keys back and do it herself the moment they were outside). Eventually, though, she did get everything sealed up properly, passing the keys back over to Hanamaru before an eager look appeared on her face.

“So we’re done now, right?” she asked. “That’s everything?”

“Mhmm,” Hanamaru replied, giving a small nod.

“Then let’s go on our date!” Yoshiko grabbed Hanamaru’s hand as she said that, starting to yank her girlfriend down the path that lead from the temple towards the street.

“Zura!” Hanamaru blurted out, stumbling as she was yanked forward. “Not so fast!”

“We’re not in the temple anymore! You can’t tell me what to do out here!” Yoshiko called back. Hanamaru hated that she was sort of right about that.


	27. Chika/Kanan

“Kanannnn. I’m dyiiiiiiiing.”

“You’re not dying. You’re just being a baby.”

“But it’s so hoooot!” Chika was right about that much, at least: it was extremely hot. It was the dead of summer, and one of the most sweltering days they’d had in quite a while to boot. Add on the fact that the Matsuura family’s dive shop didn’t exactly have the most robust air conditioning system, and Chika felt like she was going to melt at any moment. The tiny cooling unit in the window was doing its best, but its best wasn’t nearly good enough for a day like today.

“Once I close up shop for the day we can go down to the beach and you can splash around in the water all you want,” Kanan promised, although the response she got was exactly the one she had been expecting.

“But why can’t we go  _ now? _ ”

“Because I’m working right now,” Kanan replied. And for once, she really was working. Her family’s shop wasn’t exactly the most profitable venture, and on days where the weather wasn’t very nice business could be slow- which was to say nothing of the entirety of winter. But as it turned out, on a day when the sun was scorching hot and the air felt like soup, people ended up being very attracted to the idea of completely submerging themselves in the ocean for an hour or two. Kanan had ended up being busy all day because of it, and when Chika had come by to deliver her lunch, she had ended up getting roped into sticking around until closing time as well.

This was the first lull that Kanan had gotten in hours, and she was enjoying the chance to actually sit down and breathe for a few moments, finally digging out the lunch Chika had brought her what felt like a lifetime ago. Chika, on the other hand, seemed determined to use this opportunity to whine.

“You’re  _ always _ working,” she insisted. “We  _ never _ get to hang out together!” While she was exaggerating it a little bit, Chika did at least have a point: over their summer break, Kanan had been working at her family’s shop quite frequently. Chika, along with her fellow second-year students, had pretty much just been taking the time off to relax and have fun, so perhaps it was understandable that she was upset when she didn’t get to spend every day lazing around with her girlfriend, or going on crazy adventures with her.

“We’re hanging out together right now,” Kanan pointed out, although even as she tried to make the argument she realized that it probably wouldn’t go over very well. And sure enough, Chika’s face was immediately sinking down into a frown.

“This doesn’t count as hanging out together and you know it!” she insisted. “Hanging out together means doing something fun! Getting food, or going up into the mountains, or visiting Tokyo, or even just sitting around watching movies all day! But working together in the same shop doesn’t count as hanging out!”

“Well, what if we try to make a game out of it? Say, for every set of gear we rent out-”

“I’m not a little kid, Kanan.” The suggestion was shot down about as quickly as she came up with it, and Kanan couldn’t help but laugh a little bit at that. She supposed that was the curse of growing up alongside Chika for her entire life: even though they were only a year part, and even though the two of them were dating now, there was probably always going to be that part of Kanan that felt the urge to act like the tough big kid, patting Chika on the head while teasing her for insignificant little things. She didn’t see that ever changing.

“Right. I guess you’re not,” Kanan agreed, turning her gaze out the window. The sunlight was streaming through, and it was only making the inside of the room that much stuffier. “But you’re never too old for bribery to stop working, right?” she added on, grin stretching over her face. That seemed to be enough to get her girlfriend’s attention- up until that point Chika had been slumped over the counter in the most dramatic pose she could muster, but the promise of a bribe was enough to make her lift her head back up, looking towards Kanan once again.

“...What sort of bribe?” she asked, her tone still remaining thoroughly cautious and skeptical.

“Well, I probably owe you for helping me out around here all day, right?” Kanan asked, prompting a nod from Chika. “I probably can’t get dad to actually pay you. Buuut… I could take you out for ice cream after we’re done here.”

“Five hours of my time is worth more than an ice cream cone!” Chika protested.

“Oh, I know. But what about  _ all the ice cream you can eat? _ ” Kanan offered. Chika paused for a moment, seeming to give that some serious consideration.

“All the ice cream I can eat?” she repeated.

“All of it. We can go out somewhere after this and I’ll buy you as much as you want, until you make yourself sick,” Kanan promised. “And if you can’t walk home after that then I’ll pick you up and carry you back there myself.

“And I can get  _ any  _ kind I want?”

“Any at all.”

“Toppings?”

“Unlimited.”

“Fine,” Chika said, although she still seemed just a little bit reluctant. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

“Great!” Kanan replied, gesturing back towards the shop’s front ramp, which two people were starting to walk up. “Because it looks like we’ve got customers!”

“Hey, no fair! You tricked me! You knew they were coming!”

“Maybe,” Kanan laughed. “You didn’t really think you would get free ice cream for nothing, did you?”

“I was hoping…”


	28. Dia/Hanamaru

_ By the side of the ocean there existed a small, rural kingdom. It wasn’t as big or as modern as some of the kingdoms nearby, but it was quiet, and peaceful, and the people who lived there loved it very much. The kingdom was ruled over by two sisters, who were seen by their subjects as wise and just. The older of the two sisters was famously beautiful, with fair white skin and straight black hair. She was known for being elegant and graceful, talking quietly but sternly when she spoke. _

_ The older princess often went out into her kingdom to wander through the streets and meet with the subjects that loved her so much. During one of these visits, she found herself drawn towards an old temple that sat at the edge of one of the towns. She had never been there before, but as she approached she saw a girl sweeping the front steps. She had brown hair, and she was short- _

“...Hanamaru-chan.”

“Zura?”

“Is this story about the two of us?” Hanamaru gasped at that accusation, quickly reaching out to try to snatch the half-finished manuscript back from Dia.

“Not at all!” she protested. “Where would you get that idea?”

“A dark-haired princess? A brunette girl who works at a temple? Surely you have to see the similarities.”

“You’re not a princess.”

“Yes, but-” Dia paused for a moment, sighing and pressing her fingers to her forehead before continuing. “If you did base it off of us, there’s nothing wrong with that. I actually think it’s sort of endearing.”

“Okay. But I didn’t.”

“...Right,” Dia sighed. “Let’s see what happens next.” Clearing her throat, she continued to read what Hanamaru had written: “ _ She had brown hair, and she was short. Around the same height as the princess’s sister, it seemed. The younger of the two princesses, an energetic, if not shy, redheaded girl, was-  _ Okay, you  _ have  _ to see it now,” Dia stressed. “A shy, short, energetic redhead? That perfectly describes-”

“If you’re not going to appreciate my writing then give it back!” Hanamaru huffed, snatching the pages away from Dia. “I need to make some rewrites, zura.” Dia simply watched with a perplexed, slightly irritated expression as Hanamaru set about furiously scribbling things onto the paper, erasing some bits and rewriting others. It took her a minute or two before her edits were done, leaving Dia sitting there with a growing sense of curiosity all the while. But eventually she held the story back out, wearing the most serious expression someone of her stature could muster.

“There,” she said. “Now read it.” Dia raised an eyebrow at that, but she did as she was told, taking the stack of papers back and starting to read again.

“Let’s see…  _ When the princess saw the girl sweeping the steps of the temple, she felt her heart start to flutter. She didn’t know why, but she felt drawn to approach. As she did so, the princess called out: ‘Hey girl, you have a nice butt, I would like to touch it-’  _ That sounds nothing like me!”

“Good,” Hanamaru replied. “Because it’s not supposed to be you.” Dia clenched her teeth together, eyebrow twitching slightly as she moved onto the next lines.

“ _ ‘It’s such a nice butt. The nicest butt I’ve ever seen. I would love to get my hands on that butt, zura.’ _ It actually says that. You actually wrote ‘zura.’”

“This character says zura a lot.”

“Fine,” Dia huffed, tossing the manuscript back down on the table between them. “You’ve made your point! She says zura a lot and she likes touching butts so obviously she can’t be me.”

“The butt touching part was the only part that  _ was  _ based on you.”

“I’ve never touched a butt in my life!” Of course, as soon as Dia said that she realized what she had just shouted, and she felt a distinct redness start to set in over her cheeks. Hanamaru, meanwhile, seemed quite pleased with the results of this, sitting there with the biggest smirk on her face.

“ _ Never, _ zura?”

“We’re not talking about this!” Dia crossed her arms in protest, glaring at Hanamaru over the table for a few more seconds. She did eventually let her gaze get dragged back down to the story between them, though, and her expression started to soften as she did so. “For what it’s worth…” she added on, “I think it was a nice story before you made all of those changes.”

“You were making fun of me for it,” Hanamaru mumbled back, slumping down in her own chair.

“I wasn’t… Making fun of you,” Dia replied. “I didn’t say there was anything  _ wrong  _ with basing the characters off of us. I actually… Thought it was sort of cute.”

“...Really?” Hanamaru asked, perking back up the tiniest bit on the other side of the table.

“Really,” Dia promised. “And I’d like to know more about what happens to them. So… Can I read the rest of the story? The unaltered version?”

“Well… Alright,” Hanamaru decided, reaching out to pick the stack of pages back up again. “But I have a lot of but touching to edit out now, zura.”

“How much but touching is a lot?”

“ _ Pages. _ ”


	29. Chika/Hanamaru

“Are you ready?”

“No!”

“I’m gonna let go!”

“Don’t do it, zura!”

“C’moooon,” Chika huffed, putting a scowl on her face. She was standing next to Hanamaru, one hand on the smaller girl’s back, the other holding onto the frame of the bike she was sitting on. It had been brought to her attention, recently, that Hanamaru’s utter cluelessness with technology didn’t just extend to the digital realm, or even to the electronic one. Somehow, Hanamaru was fifteen years old and had never learned how to ride a bike. Chika had taken it upon herself to fix that.

Hanamaru was prepared for the occasion, decked out pretty much head to toe in protective gear, thanks in large part to Dia’s insistence. She had elbow pads, knee pads, a helmet, and she was wearing both long sleeves and long pants to protect herself from an injury if she fell. Which was something she had managed to avoid doing so far, but only because Chika had been holding onto her the entire time. She still didn’t seem particularly confident in her own abilities, though. There was a reason she didn’t want Chika to let go.

“You’ll never get any better at this if you don’t try it on your own!” Chika insisted. “You’ve gotta do it yourself sooner or later!”

“If you let go of me I’ll fall!” Hanamaru replied. And it seemed like a valid concern. Even with Chika gripping onto her, her progress back and forth across the street had been decidedly wobbly and unsteady, and there was no guarantee that she would stay upright for more than a second or two if her support system were to suddenly be stripped away. Hanamaru also seemed to be far more nervous about it than Chika had hoped- when she had first learned to ride a bike, Chika remembered falling down a hundred and one different ways, only to pick herself back up and try again immediately afterwards. She had gotten plenty of scrapes and bruises, sure, but that was never the sort of thing that had scared a young Chika off. Hanamaru, meanwhile, had pretty much been white knuckling it through this entire experience, and it looked like she was only moments away from snapping the handlebars clean off.

“So what if you fall!” The bike wobbled a bit as Chika moved around to stand in front of Hanamaru, and Hanamaru squeaked as she felt the movement, ready to jump ship the moment the bike started to tip. “What’s the worst thing that could happen if you fall off this bike right now?”

“I could break an arm! Or a leg, zura! And then I wouldn’t be able to dance anymore!”

“Alright, so that’s the worst case scenario!” Chika agreed. “But you could break a leg if you tripped walking down the sidewalk! You could break an arm trying to close a door too hard! There’s lots of ways you could get hurt! But you don’t worry about all those dumb little things all the time, do you?”

“But those things are a lot safer!” Hanamaru protested.

“Riding a bike is totally safe too! I’ve never gotten hurt doing it!” Chika claimed, before adding on a “Well,  _ badly _ hurt. But that’s not important!”

“That sounds important!”

“It’s not! The only thing that’s important,” she insisted, “is that you don’t let yourself get scared or give up! So I’m gonna give you a big push to get you going, and then I’m gonna let go, and you’re either gonna keep going or you’re gonna fall down. But no matter what happens you can be proud of knowing you tried!” The motivational speech didn’t seem to be doing a whole lot, though.

“No! Don’t let go, zura!” Hanamaru squealed out. But of course, once Chika got an idea in her head, it was pretty much impossible to deter her, and this didn’t seem to be any exception to that. She was already starting to run down the street, picking up speed and pushing Hanamaru along on the bike as she went. And Hanamaru, realizing that she had now missed her window to safely bail out, had instead decided that clinging on for dear life was a better choice than trying to escape from a moving bicycle.

“Ready? I’m gonna let go in three!”

“No!”

“Two!”

“NO!”

“One!”

“ZURA!”

“Be free!” True to her word, as soon as the countdown reached its end Chika released her grip on Hanamaru, letting her girlfriend start speeding forward of her own accord. And, much to both their surprise, Hanamaru actually managed to stay upright. The speed and momentum she’d gotten from Chika pushing her were enough to prevent her from wobbling too much to either side, and she was managing to stay balanced on top of the bike, cruising down the street at a speed that was perhaps just a little bit faster than was necessarily safe for someone who was still learning.

“You’re doing it!” Chika called after her. “See? I told you you could-!” Nothing good lasted forever, though, and Hanamaru only made it fifteen feet or so before that momentum she had been carrying finally gave out on her. At that point she went toppling over the side of her seat, hitting the ground with a thud as the bike came clattering down next to her.

“Owwww…” she groaned out, laying there in a defeated pile on the pavement as Chika came running over next to her.

“But you were doing it!” she called out, eventually coming to crouch just beside Hanamaru. “Right? You were doing it! And you fell down, but you didn’t break a bone or anything! So now you can pick yourself right back up and try again!”

“How many more times do I have to fall down, zura?” Hanamaru whined.

“I dunno! Probably a lot! But I’ll be right here with you the entire time,” Chika promised. “And you’ll keep dusting yourself back off too! That’s what learning is all about!”

“I wish I could learn faster.” Chika, meanwhile, was already standing up again, grabbing Hanamaru’s bike and getting it back on its wheels. Once she had it upright she looked down towards the other girl, still wearing an enormous, optimistic grin on her face.

“Ready to try again?” she asked. Hanamaru looked up at her for a second, making a mental tally of every ache and pain her body currently felt from hitting the pavement. But then, reluctant as she might have been, she pushed her palms against the ground, getting back on her own feet as well.

“Ready, zura.”


	30. Kanan/Ruby

“Eighteen…. Hnn… N-Nine… Teen…”

“C’mon, you got this! Just one more!”

“T- Twe…”

“You can do it!”

“T-Twenty!” Ruby forced herself into an upright sitting position as she called that last number out, wincing at the strain the last crunch in the set put on her stomach. As she opened one eye back up, though, she found herself face to face with Kanan, who was holding her feet down while wearing a massive grin.

“See?” she said. “Told you you could do it.” After saying that Kanan leaned in to close the small gap between them, pecking Ruby on the lips, although Ruby seemed far too exhausted to enjoy it properly. She was still panting heavily trying to catch her breath, and immediately after Kanan kissed her she flopped backwards, hitting the mat underneath her with a thud and a groan.

“I don’t think I can walk. You’ll have to carry me back home.”

“Aww, c’mon babe,” Kanan laughed, letting go of Ruby’s feet and scooting around to be closer to where the smaller girl’s head had ended up. “You don’t think we’re done yet, do you? That was just core training! We’ve still gotta work on weights and cardio.” Ruby let out a long, frustrated whine when she heard that, reaching up to cover her face with her hands.

“Can’t that wait until tomorrow?”

“Jeez, you’re really out of shape, aren’t you?” Kanan asked, mouth curling down into a little frown. She stretched a finger out, poking it into her unsuspecting girlfriend’s stomach. Ruby squealed out in response, immediately jolting back upright- or at least, trying to, before realizing that her abdominal muscles were in no state to do something like that at the moment. She got about halfway up before collapsing backwards, letting out another distressed whine.

“I’m not that bad,” she tried to insist, although the stern look Kanan gave her immediately silenced any further protest.

“If you’re getting tired out this quickly then we’ve still got a lot of work to do,” Kanan replied. After she said that she rolled the sleeve of her own t-shirt up to her shoulder, exposing her entire arm. As Kanan flexed she showed off a very clearly defined bicep, and she grinned down at Ruby, who was in turn doing a very poor job of pretending not to stare. “You’ll never get to looking like this if you give up so quickly,” she pointed out.

“How will doing crunches help my arms get stronger?”

“Well, not your arms,” Kanan admitted. “But crunches will help with… Bam!” As Kanan punctuated the end of her sentence like that she lifted her shirt up, raising it to around the bottom of her chest, and showing off her stomach as a result. While she wasn’t quite at the point of having a full six-pack, her abdominals were still about as clearly defined as her biceps, and two firm lines were plainly visible running down either side of her stomach. Ruby’s face turned even redder when she saw that, and this time she couldn’t pretend it was just from the exertion and exercise.

“Kanan!” she huffed, covering her face with her hands once again. “Put your shirt back down…”

“Aww, what’s the matter?” Kanan teased. “Don’t you like the view?”

“Kanan!”

“Do you wanna touch it, Ruby-chan?”

“No!”

“I think you doooooo.” Ruby’s face was about as red as her hair by this point, although despite the fact that she was making such a show of hiding behind her hands, she was still very clearly peeking out through her fingers all the same. She peered out at Kanan for a few seconds before slowly, almost reluctantly moving one hand away from herself. She stretched her fingers out very cautiously, letting the tips of them poke against Kanan’s stomach.

“It’s really firm,” Ruby murmured.

“And if you keep up with all these exercises you could get abs like this too,” Kanan replied. “You could get shredded.”

“I don’t think I would look good with a lot of muscles anyway,” Ruby insisted, shaking her head. “Muscles aren’t really cute. And being cute is most of my charm.”

“Don’t forget modesty.”

“But it’s true!” Ruby giggled, smiling up at Kanan. “I’m the cute one and you’re the tough one. And you have to be strong so you can beat up anyone who’s mean to me. But I just have to keep looking cute.”

“Oooor, we could both get buff and beat people up together. That sounds kinda fun, doesn’t it?” Kanan suggested. Ruby just laughed again, shaking her head before trying to force herself into a sitting position once more. She went more slowly this time, bracing her hands against the floor behind herself to help, but in the end she was able to get upright with a very limited amount of struggling.

“Would you still like me if I wasn’t cute?” she asked.

“Stupid question,” Kanan replied, tossing her arms around Ruby’s waist and pulling her in closer, starting to pepper the top of her head with kisses. “It’d be impossible for you to stop being cute.”

“Even if I got taller than you? And stronger than you?”

“Even then,” Kanan insisted. “You’ll always be my adorable little girlfriend, no matter what.” Ruby seemed satisfied with that answer, smiling softly as she let herself lean up against Kanan. There was a comforting sense of security that came from being wrapped up in the taller girl’s arms like that, and it really made her feel like she could stay there forev-

“So you ready to start on cardio?”

“I was sort of hoping I’d distracted you…” Ruby mumbled.

“Yeah,” Kanan laughed. “I figured as much.”


	31. Riko/Yoshiko

“Are you sure you’re ready for a big commitment like this?”

“If you can handle it I’m pretty sure I can too.”

“You don’t have to be so mean about it!” Riko simply laughed in response before she took a step forward, crossing through the doorway into the back of the animal shelter. Today, she was going to do something she had never thought she would end up doing in a million years: today, she was going to adopt a dog.

As much as Riko was reluctant to admit that the two things were in any way related, she had to recognize that since she and Yoshiko had started dating, the other girl’s love for animals had started to rub off on her. Once so terrified that she couldn’t even bring herself to pet Shitake, spending time with Yoshiko (and the wide assortment of strays she tended to take in and care for) had caused Riko to warm up to animals, and to dogs in particular. She was still wary of anything that was large enough to tackle her, and much preferred the smaller breeds, but the fact that she was really about to get one at all was as sign of immense progress.

Still, as soon as she stepped into the back of the shelter and heard several dogs start barking at her all at once, a lot of that progress went right out the window. Suddenly Riko was jumping backwards towards the door, recoiling away from the sound.

“Relax,” Yoshiko said, rolling her eyes as she walked over towards the cages that lined the walls. “They can’t get to you from in there.” As she spoke Yoshiko’s eyes moved from one dog to the next, a little flicker of sadness appearing when she saw so many of them run up towards the bars of the cages and start to stick their noses through the gaps. Riko was still hiding away by the door, and it took her a few seconds to find the confidence to step forward and begin following after Yoshiko.

“I know that,” she replied. “But they’re still just… Loud.”

“Dogs get loud sometimes. If you’re about to adopt one you should be prepared for that.”

“I am!” Riko insisted. “I am.” Even then, though, she was still sort of hoping she would be able to find one who didn’t bark  _ too  _ much. Something small and docile, that wouldn’t make too much noise, and that ideally wouldn’t try to lick her face… Thinking about it that way, Riko realized she was starting to describe a cat.

“You said you wanted something small, right?” Yoshiko asked, still moving from cage to cage while keeping an eye out for anything she thought Riko might like. Anything that was too large to pick up was pretty much out of the question, although Yoshiko herself certainly wouldn’t have minded a newfoundland or a mastiff. They seemed to be a much more optimal size for cuddling.

“That’s right,” Riko replied. “Something… Something small enough that I could pick it up, and maybe carry it around with me. Something that won’t hurt if it jumps at me or sits on me. Maybe something that could fit in a bag,” she added, smiling softly at that last thought. “Something cute.”

“Dogs aren’t just for you to look cute, you know.” Yoshiko’s remark came with a surprisingly biting edge to it, and not the sort of edge the other girl usually had. It seemed gravely serious- but as Riko thought about it, Yoshiko had been unusually serious from the moment they had walked in here. She hadn’t even made a single joke about fallen angels or little demons or hellhounds.

“Yoshiko-chan…” Riko said, taking a cautious step towards her girlfriend. “Are you alright?” Yoshiko didn’t answer right away, and even when she did speak she still didn’t look up. She was facing towards the bars of one of the cages, looking in towards the dog at the center, not pulling her eyes away from it.

“When you get a pet you’re making a promise to care for it forever,” she eventually said softly. “You’re promising to feed it and play with and give it a home. But a lot of people get pets even though they aren’t ready to do all those things. And when that happens the animals end up right back here… Or worse.”

“Yoshiko…” Initially unsure of how to respond, Riko was silent for a few moments, aside from simply saying her girlfriend’s name. She eventually started to walk forward, though, reaching out to let her hand brush against Yoshiko’s, delicately intertwining their fingers until she could give a small squeeze. “I promise you… This isn’t something I would be doing if I weren’t sure I was read for it. Ever since Nocturne-”

“Laelaps.”

“Ever since we had to say goodbye to him, I’ve felt sort of… Lonely,” she admitted. “I never thought I would feel that way, but I do. So… I’m ready for this,” she insisted. “I’m ready to give one of these dogs a home, and to care about it, and play with it, and…” Riko’s train of thought was interrupted by a sharp bark coming from right in front of her, and as she lifted her eyes she actually found herself actually looking at the dog that Yoshiko had been fixated on for the first time. He was a Jack Russell Terrier, not quite full grown, but not quite a puppy anymore either. His fur had gotten a little bit long, but he looked well-groomed enough. He was mostly white, with brown, almost reddish spotting around his eyes and his shoulders. And as the two girls had been talking he had rushed right up to the edge of his cage, poking his head through the bars as much as he could and barking to get their attention.

When Riko’s eyes fell on the small dog she was quiet and still for a few seconds, before she let go of Yoshiko’s hand and crouched down to bring herself closer to its level. Very slowly she began to reach her own hand out, cautiously bringing it closer to the terrier. He stood there patiently all the while, barking ceased now that he had Riko’s focus, and he didn’t move until her hand was close enough for him to press his nose up against it. He took a few seconds to sniff about and familiarize himself with her before barking happily, pushing the rest of his head up into the palm of her hand. Riko seemed startled at first, but after that brief surprise she began to smile, gently petting the dog along the top of his little head.

“I think he likes me,” she said, chuckling quietly.

“Do you like him?”

“Yeah, I do… I think I want this one,” she decided. Yoshiko observed for another moment before she crouched down as well, bringing herself to the same height as Riko.

“What are you gonna name him?”

“I’m not sure yet. You’ll help me think of something good, right?” Almost immediately, Riko regretted that question. She could hear the low chuckling that started to come from beside her, and as she glanced over she saw a familiar devilish smirk appearing on her girlfriend’s face.

“Ahh, but of course,” Yoshiko replied, speaking in that deeper tone that let Riko know she was at it again. “You’re wise to come to me for-”

“What about Baroque?”

“You didn’t even give me a chance to say anything!”

“But it’s a nice name, isn’t it?”

“I was gonna suggest Garmr,” Yoshiko muttered under her breath, slumping her shoulders down. Reluctantly, though, she did add on a “...But I guess Baroque works too.”

“Then it’s settled. Do you hear that?” Riko asked, smile stretching a little wider as she continued to scratch the terrier on the top of his head and behind his ears. “You’ll be a part of the family now, little Baroque.” Baroque seemed quite happy about that.


	32. Dia/You

“HELOOOOOOOOOOOOO TOKYOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

“You-chan! Will you stop that?? You’re embarrassing us!” Despite the scolding, You had the biggest grin on her face as she stared out over the crowds of people flocking through Shibuya Crossing (some of whom were turning to look at her now). She had sort of hoped that coming to college in the big city would have helped Dia to relax and unwind a bit, leaving behind some of that uptight small-town upbringing she had been raised with, but it had been a few months now, and she still wasn’t seeing any luck in that regard. Dia was just as tense as ever.

Never one to pass up an opportunity to get dressed up, You had gone all out with her outfit in preparation for her trip into Tokyo, striking up what she thought was a perfect balance of urban, colorful, and just a little bit gay. The shorts, the vibrant layered sweatshirts, the sideways cap, the glasses, and the brand new sneakers all made it clear she had put quite a bit of time into this look. Dia, on the other hand, was dressed far more modestly, in little more than a simple skirt and a blouse, but that was about what You had expected from her. And she still looked gorgeous, even if she wasn’t trying nearly as hard.

“We’re in Tokyo!” You replied, pointing out the obvious once again. “Everyone’s loud in Tokyo!”

“That doesn’t mean you have to go shouting at crowds of people!” Dia huffed, shooting her girlfriend a glare before, seemingly somewhat reluctantly, reaching out to take You’s hand. “Regardless, I’m sure you didn’t want to come here just so you can stare at the train stations.”

“Of course not!” You replied, digging into one of her numerous pockets with her spare hand and digging her phone back out. “There’s loads of places I wanna see while I’m here. Harujuku, Ginza, Odaiba… Look!” she said, grinning as she twisted her phone around to let Dia see the screen. “I made an itinerary!” Dia glanced at the schedule out of the corner of her eye, though only for a moment before her face started to flush. Very quickly she was staring dead ahead once again, pressing her mouth into a flat line and doing a very poor job of maintaining a stoic expression. The reaction struck You as odd, who tilted her head as she turned her phone back away. “Dia-chan? You okay?”

“I am  _ incredibly  _ attracted to you right now.” Hearing that caused You’s grin to stretch even wider, and she leaned in closer to Dia, dropping her voice down a bit.

“What if I told you I even scheduled in time for making out?”

“Did- Did you really?” Dia choked.

“No. But I could.”

“Now you’re just teasing me.” You simply laughed as she tugged Dia by the hand, starting to pull her off down the street.

“C’mon!” she urged. “The map said we should be able to walk to Harujuku from here. It’s not that far!” And You knew that, to Dia, walking was actually probably vastly preferable to trying to navigate the trains. Even after living in the city for a little while now, childhood trauma was something that wasn’t that easily upended.

While she hadn’t shown it off while flashing her schedule, You had also been sure to work in some stops that she felt Dia would appreciate as well. She knew that their tastes could run a little bit different from each other, so in between all of the stops to shopping districts and fashion hotspots, she had also made sure to squeeze in a few things that were more her girlfriend’s speed. Landmarks like the Meiji Shrine, or the Imperial Palace. Cultural, historical stuff that seemed to be right up Dia’s alley.

“So what’s it like living here in the big city?” You asked, swinging their hands back and forth with a level of enthusiasm that Dia found to be just a touch excessive as they walked. “Are you getting up to all kinds of no good? Going to crazy college parties every single night?”

“Hardly,” Dia replied, giving You a stern, unamused look. “I think you have me confused for Mari. Heaven knows  _ she’s _ been getting into all sorts of trouble overseas.”

“Oh yeah? Well if you’re still being a stick in the mud I guess I’ll just have to change that before I leave,” You decided, leaning in closer and bumping her shoulder up against Dia as they walked along. “Prepare for the wildest week of your life, babe.”

“I’m not going to let you drag me into this sort of thing!” Dia protested. “I got more than enough of that from Mari and Yoshiko-san back at home. Now that I’m a university student, I’ve left that sort of nonsense behind.” She said that all with a sense of confidence, quite literally turning up her nose at the behavior she’d once engaged in that she now found so childish. Despite the pride she was clearly taking in her own words, though, she was met with complete silence, which prompted her to glance over towards her strangely quiet girlfriend. And when she did, she saw You frowning back at her.

“You’re really too grown up for  _ any  _ nonsense at all now?” she asked.

“Yes,” Dia sternly stated. “I won’t indulge in that anymore.”

“Not even a little bit?”

“Not even a little bit.”

“So like… If I said we could go through Ginza and look for the stupidest, most touristy crap we can find,” You suggested, “you wouldn’t wanna do that?”

“I’ll be more than happy to go on an  _ actual  _ shopping trip with you, but I’m not going to waste money on something that’s intentionally pointless.”

“And if I said we should go to a monjayaki place and eat sooooooo much food that we made ourselves sick-”

“I would say no,” Dia insisted. “We can eat a reasonable amount of food and enjoy it, instead of giving ourselves stomach aches.”

“What about if I said when we get to Harujuku,” You went on, “we pick out a whole bunch of clothes, and then we both sneak into one of the changing rooms  _ together _ , and…” You trailed off at that point, leaning in right next to Dia’s ear and dropping her voice to a quiet enough whisper that she couldn’t be overheard. It got the exact reaction she had been hoping for: suddenly Dia’s face was bright red, and she was tensing up before regaining her wits enough to shove her girlfriend away from her.

“Y-You!” she stammered out. “That’s- That’s indecent, and unacceptable! We could get kicked out of the store, or arrested, o-or-!”

“Or you could cut loose and have some actual fun for once,” You interrupted, starting to walk on ahead while Dia continued to stand there, spluttering out half-formed sentences and largely incoherent noises. “Just promise me we can do  _ something  _ dumb and reckless and stupid while I’m here, okay?”

“F-Fine!” Dia conceded. “Just not THAT!”

“Works for me,” You giggled, looking back over her shoulder to flash Dia a wink. “Now c’mon!” she added on, stretching her hand out behind her and waving her girlfriend to catch up. “Those clothes won’t try themselves on! And they won’t take themselves back off either!”

“You-chan!”

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” _Mostly_.


	33. Dia/Mari

“Do you believe that everything happens for a reason?”

“You’re feeling awfully profound tonight, aren’t you?”

“Maybe,” Mari giggled. “But you should answer the question.”

“Well… If you must know, then yes. I do think there’s a reason behind everything, even if those reasons aren’t always immediately apparent.”

“In that case, what’s you reason for bringing me up here tonight?”

It had been just over two years since Dia had stood at the top of the mountain overlooking Uchiura alongside Mari, and she could still remember how cold her blood had run when her girlfriend had asked that question. In her head she had thought she was being so subtle, so smooth, so clever, but when she looked over towards Mari and saw the devious smile on her face, it had become clear to Dia that her girlfriend had seen through her from the very start. Maybe it was because of how nervous she had been acting the entire night, or because impromptu romantic outings like this weren’t usually Dia’s idea, or because her hand had been stuffed into her pocket for the entire evening, fidgeting with a ring that Mari couldn’t see but could apparently still infer was there all the same.

The proposal hadn’t gone the way Dia had intended it to. It hadn’t been the storybook moment she had been picturing, and the eloquent speech she had spent the past month preparing and rehearsing had suddenly started devolving into a mess of stammered, disjointed phrases, all while Mari took entirely too much pleasure in watching Dia twist and squirm. The whole display had been an awkward, messy disaster, one that ended up flying in the face of everything Dia had planned. But perhaps the part that surprised Dia the most was Mari’s answer.

“No.” The word was crushing, so much so that Dia very nearly dropped the ring and lost it down the edge of the mountain. At first she thought it was just another one of Mari’s little pranks- her girlfriend certainly enjoyed taking any opportunity possible to get under her skin- but when the “ _ It’s joke! _ ” never came she looked up and saw Mari staring out over the town below with that solemn expression on her face, and at that point it became clear she was serious. They had been happily dating for almost four years now, and Dia had thought they were ready for this, so the response left her confused. Thankfully, a simple “Why?” had been enough to get Mari to explain herself.

“Do you plan to spend the rest of your life here in Uchiura?” Mari asked. Dia didn’t say anything, but Mari didn’t need her to. As she turned back to face her girlfriend with a sad smile, she already had her answer. “That’s what I thought.” Dirt crunched under her feet as she started to walk, past Dia, towards the path that lead back down to the base of the mountain. “I love you, Dia,” she said. “But I love the world too. I want to see everything, and travel around, and live in thirty different countries before I get old. I don’t think I could ever stay in one place forever. I’m sorry.”

They hadn’t broken up after that, although it had never quite felt the same as it had before either. Because somewhere in the back of both of their minds, it always felt like there was a timer. A timer until Dia decided she wanted to settle down and start the family she had always imagined, or until Mari ran off to some other country and decided this time she wasn’t coming back. They were still in love, but it was hard to feel properly in love when they both also felt that sooner or later it would come to an end.

So Dia traveled.

Previously she had never even set foot outside of Japan, but suddenly she was travelling everywhere and anywhere. Sometimes she brought Mari with her, though perhaps it was more accurate to say Mari was the one dragging her along to places like Italy or the United States. Sometimes Dia brought Ruby, like on her trip to South Korea. Sometimes others came with her, like when Kanan had joined her on her trip to Australia. But a good portion of the time, she simply travelled alone, visiting each country by herself, spending a few days to a week immersing herself as fully as she could. Each country was another food she had never tried, another language she didn’t speak, another historical monument or natural landmark she had only ever seen in pictures before. And each country was another little stamp in the back of her passport.

Now, for the second time in her life, Dia found herself in a situation that wasn’t going at all how she had planned it. It should have felt like the climactic moment of a romantic movie, she thought to herself, with crescendoing music overlayed on dramatic shots of her running across the city. But instead she was sitting here in the back of an Italian cab, listening to the radio play in a foreign language that, even after knowing Mari for this long, she still only barely understood, waiting to reach her destination. She was exhausted from an overnight flight, hardly even able to keep herself awake, and she had been sitting in airplane stench for so long that she couldn’t tell if it was really clinging to her clothes now, or if it had just burned its way into her nostrils permanently.

The destination in question was Mari’s family home, here in Italy, where Dia knew she was staying through the end of the month. Mari, on the other hand, had no clue that Dia was even in the country. It was around eight in the morning- the joy of red eye flights- and if Dia knew her girlfriend half as well as she thought she did that meant she wouldn’t even think about getting out of bed for another two hours, probably more. But Dia intended to change that.

The taxi cab eventually pulled up to the front drive of the Ohara family’s ostentatious estate- how they could own houses like this in multiple different countries was beyond Dia’s comprehension, and that was saying something considering the family she grew up in. When she stepped out of the car and walked towards the front door she felt a familiar sense of nervousness in the pit of her stomach, one she hadn’t felt for the past two years. But this time, she told herself, it was going to be different.

Ringing the doorbell was quite possibly the most difficult small action she had ever taken in her life, and ringing it again when she didn’t get a response after thirty seconds proved to be even harder. She tried not to let herself worry about it too much, though, telling herself this was just because Mari was taking forever to drag her lazy butt out of bed, but by the third ring she couldn’t deny that she was starting to grow uneasy. On the fourth ring, though, she finally got results.

“Va bene, va bene,” Mari groaned as she opened up the door, still rubbing her bleary eyes. “Cosa-” When she opened her eyes and saw Dia standing there, though, she froze. It was clear that Dia’s assumption had been correct: Mari had very obviously been woken up by the sound of the doorbell. She was still wearing her nightgown, her hair was sticking up in every possible direction, her face was void of any makeup. She seemed frozen in surprise as her brain processed what she was seeing, likely wondering if she was still dreaming, until she was finally able to squeeze out a small sound. “...Dia?”

“Don’t say anything,” Dia replied. “I just finished coming here from Bolivia. I’ve been travelling for two days straight during which time I’ve barely slept and have eaten nothing but airport food and in-flight meals. I’m hungry, I’m tired, I feel disgusting. But I’ve done it,” she said, digging into the pocket of her jacket and producing her passport. “I’ve finally done it.”

“Huh? Done what?” Mari asked, eyes darting back and forth between the passport and Dia’s face in confusion.

“When I asked you to marry me, you said no. You said you wanted to live in thirty different countries before you got old, and you didn’t think we could do that together. I didn’t think I could either,” she admitted. “But I’ve been to thirty different countries now. The stamps are all in my passport if you want to see for yourself.” As she said that she opened the booklet up to a random page, and Mari was able to see just how many of the little boxes had been filled out over the past two years. “And now that I’ve done it once,” she went on, “I’ve realized I want to do it all over again. This time, with you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And I don’t care if we do that in Uchiura, or Italy, or the US, or Bolivia, or all of the above. Just as long as I’m with you, I know I’ll be happy.”

“Dia…” Mari started to choke out. “What are you-”

“Mari Ohara,” Dia said, using her free hand to produce the same ring she’d had on the mountaintop two years prior, still kept safe after all this time. She held it out while lowering herself to one knee on Mari’s doorstep. And this time, she didn’t trip over her words when she asked, “Will you marry me?”

The pause that followed felt like the longest moment of Dia’s life. Longer than any plane flight, longer than any layover, longer than the entire two years that had passed since the last time she had asked the question. But eventually, Mari stretched her hand forward, extending her ring finger as she gave a small nod and barely managed to whisper a tearful “Yes” while she started to cry. And finally, the one piece of baggage that had been with Dia on every trip, every flight, every hotel room in every corner of the world, had vanished. She managed to keep her composure for just long enough to slide the ring onto Mari’s finger, and then she was on her feet, throwing herself forward and wrapping her arms around her new fiance as their lips met. Dia hadn’t even realized she had started crying as well until she eventually pulled back to look at Mari and found her vision blurred, but she didn’t care. She was too happy to care.

“I love you,” Dia whispered.

“I love you too,” Mari whispered back.

“So much.”

“So, so much.”

“Where do you want to go first?”

“How am I supposed to choose?” Mari replied. “We have a whole world to pick from.”


	34. Riko/You

“Where were you on the night of the murder??” Officer You Watanabe barked, eyes narrowing behind the darkened lenses of her aviator sunglasses.

“I- I told you! I was at the opera!” Riko Sakurauchi stammered back, a pristine white-gloved hand clutching at the pearls around her neck. “I don’t know anything about what happened to him!”

“Dammit woman! You listen to me and you listen to me good,” You growled, dropping her voice down low as she leaned in closer towards her suspect. “I’m gonna get to the bottom of this one way or another whether you want me to or not, so either you help me out and tell me what I want to know or I’ll have you thrown in jail for so long you’ll forget what the opera even sounds like. So what’s it gonna be? You gonna tell me what I need to know? Or are you really confident enough to think you can fool the best damn police officer in this entire precinct?” The two of them stayed locked like that for a few more seconds, staring into each other’s eyes with a heated intensity before, finally…

Riko burst out into laughter. And the moment she started crack up You did as well, stepping backwards a few feet so she no longer had Riko backed up right against a wall. The two were both wheezing so hard it was a few seconds before either of them were even able to say anything, and even once they did the words were still interrupted by bouts of laughter.

“You’re- You’re a pretty scary police officer,” Riko choked out, reaching up to wipe some tears from the corners of her eyes.

“Yeah, well, you’re a pretty good…” You laughed back, before trailing off and waving a hand towards Riko. “Opera wife, or something.” The girls were, needless to say, not actually in a police precinct. They had taken a day trip to Numazu, and while there had stopped by a costume shop You had wanted to go to. You had promised they wouldn’t spend too long there, but Riko had accurately predicted that to be a lie. They had been in there for over an hour now, trying on different outfits and acting out exceedingly ridiculous scenes. While Riko was pretty much just there to goof off and have fun, though, You was slowly amassing a collection of costumes she actually wanted to buy.

“So what do you think about this one?” You asked, approaching one of the full-length mirrors that were scattered throughout the store. “I kinda like the whole cop thing. It makes me feel tough.”

“I’m pretty sure a real police uniform would cover a little bit more,” Riko replied, approaching You and reaching out towards her girlfriend’s exposed stomach to poke a finger against it. “You look sort of silly with your-” The moment Riko’s fingertip touched against You’s abs, however, she froze in place. Whatever sentence she was halfway through abandoned her, and her face started to turn a bright red before she was able to pull away and pivot her back to You. You immediately started to grin, scooting right up behind Riko.

“Something wrong, babe?” she teased.

“N-Nope!” Riko stammered back, frantically shaking her head. “Nothing at all, I’m fine!”

“Are my abs too much for you, Riko-chan?”

“They’re- They’re harder than I was expecting,” she admitted. You simply laughed again, twirling around to face the mirror once more.

“That’s the power of working out every day,” she replied. “Work hard and you can have abs like these too!” After admiring her toned stomach in the mirror for another moment, though, she did end up scrunching up her face, looking over the outfit once more. “I do kinda see what you mean though,” she admitted. “If I’m gonna spend money on a police uniform I’d want it to be authentic! Guess this is out.”

“Well then, we’ll just have to find something else to try on next,” Riko said, still not turning around to face You yet. Hopefully, it would be something that actually covered her stomach this time. Riko started to move towards the racks of outfits once again, delicately removing the enormous feather boa that had been a part of her own look while running her fingers through the various hangers, trying to keep an eye out for anything she thought You might like. And you was busy doing the exact same, with the added caveat that she liked just about  _ everything _ , and was having a bit of a hard time preventing herself from buying everything in sight.

“Oh, what about this!” You called out, causing Riko to crane her neck around to see what her girlfriend had found. And the moment she did, her face was reddening all over again.

“Is- Is that-”

“I think I would make a pretty good maid,” You hummed, holding the stereotypical costume up in front of herself. “Don’t you think?”

“Put that away!” Riko hissed, but You was already having far too much fun playing the part.

“Master!” she said, tugging the side of the skirt out and bending at the knees in a small curtsey. “Is there anything I can do for you today?”

“You can get rid of that indecent maid costume!”

“B-But master! If I get rid of my costume then I’ll be-”

“You’re not even wearing it!” You let out another bout of laughter at that, slinging the costume over her shoulder while starting to walk towards the dressing rooms.

“I can fix that!” she called back, causing Riko’s face to start burning even brighter.

“W-Wait!” Riko called after her. “What about- This??” She snatched up the closest thing she could find while saying that, holding it up before even looking at what she had picked. When she did look down, she was greeted by the most garish sparkling gold jumpsuit she had ever seen in her life. An absolute eyesore, but she supposed it was still  _ technically _ an improvement over the maid outfit.

“Eh?” You grunted, quirking an eyebrow. “You really want me to wear something like that?”

“Well- I- Uh- No…” Riko admitted, slumping down in defeat and fitting the jumpsuit back onto the rack. “I don’t. I’ll just be hiding in here.” With that she started attempting to burrow into the stacks upon stacks of clothing that were all crammed together, wanting to hide herself from view entirely. You started laughing once again, coming up behind Riko and slipping her arms around her girlfriend’s waist.

“Fine, fine,” she conceded. “Pick out some outfits you do actually wanna try on together and we can do it.”

“Really?” Riko asked. “You’re not about to twist this around on me somehow, are you?”

“Nope,” You replied, leaning in to plant a kiss on Riko’s cheek. “Sailor’s honor.”

“You just made that up.”

“Probably.”


	35. Hanamaru/You

Pixelated colors flashed across the old TV screen as distorted electronic sounds filled the room, underlined by the furious mashing of buttons. The commotion dragged on for a few more seconds before the colors came to a stop, and a metallic sounding voice loudly announced “VICTORY!”

“Aw…” Hanamaru grumbled, setting the old plastic controller down on the bed in front of her. “I thought I had you that time, zura.”

“You’re getting closer!” You replied. “A couple more rounds and I bet you could totally beat me.” The game they were playing was a classic, one You had spent many afternoons playing as a child. While she didn’t consider herself to be an expert at fighting games by any stretch of the imagination, or an expert at video games in general, for that matter, she had at least spent enough of her childhood laying Chika out flat with this very controller on this very TV screen to have a certain degree of skill. And for Hanamaru, who had hardly ever touched a video game in her life before, it wasn’t really a fair competition.

In a way, the day was pleasantly reminiscent of so many of the days You could remember from when she had been younger. Laying around on her bed on a hot summer day in as little clothing as she could get away with while a tiny window fan desperately struggled to cool the room down, listening to the buzzing of cicadas and the occasional hum of a car outside, playing video games without a care in the world. The key difference was that now, rather than playing the games with Kanan or Chika, or simply by herself, You was playing them with her girlfriend. A part of her actually felt kind of bad about that. When she beat Chika ten to zero You was more than happy to rub it in her face, but against Hanamaru, she felt a little guilty.

“Video games are stupid, zura,” Hanamaru huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “They’re too hard.”

“You’re just not used to them yet!” You replied. “C’mon, give it another chance! I bet you’ll do even better this time!”

“You said that the last five times!”

“And it was true every time!” While it was true that Hanamaru still hadn’t managed to take a game off of You, she was at least making slow and steady progress every step of the way. The first round had been an absolute one-sided beatdown while Hanamaru struggled to even understand what the controls did, but she had gradually been getting better from there. Each subsequent fight had seen You’s health bar whittled down just a little bit more than before, to the point where it didn’t seem out of the question to think Hanamaru might triumph over her sooner rather than later. If she didn’t give up before then, of course.

“You know it took Chika like, a year before she was finally able to beat me at this?” You asked, scooting over on the bed to bring herself a little closer to her girlfriend.

“Really?” Hanamaru asked. She looked up from where she had dropped her controller, facing You and tilting her head to the side.

“Really! She was awful at it,” You laughed. “And she used to get so frustrated every time I beat her. Of course, losing that many times in a row only got her even more fired up, and she would wanna play me over and over and over again until I was worried her thumbs were about to fall off. But you, on the other hand,” she added on, reaching up and pressing a finger against Hanamaru’s forehead, “are getting better way faster than she ever did.”

“Still not good enough to beat you, though.”

“Give it a couple more tries,” You encouraged. “Think about how fun it would be to get to rub this in Chika’s face.” Hanamaru considered that for a few moments, and while she didn’t seem entirely convinced at first, it turned out spite was a powerful motivator.

“Okay,” she said, reaching out and picking the controller back up. “Do this to be better than Chika-chan. Got it.” You couldn’t stop herself from laughing at that, though she was glad to see Hanamaru still had some fight in her.

“Ready?” You asked, picking her own controller up as well.

“Ready.” Once Hanamaru said that You pressed the start button and, after a brief countdown, they were off to fighting again. You moved in right off the bat, though much to her surprise Hanamaru was actually able to interrupt and hit her before she got her first attack in. From there You tried to fall back a little bit, but it seemed like landing that first hit had given Hanamaru a fresh wave of determination and courage. She became unrelenting in her attacks from there on out, charging forward aggressively to let loose barrage after barrage of punches and kicks, and while You was fairly certain she was just mashing the attack buttons at random, it at least seemed like it was getting results. You did her best to retaliate, but it was hard to even get a hit in against the torrent Hanamaru was letting loose with, and when all was said and done, a health bar dropped to zero. But this time, it wasn’t Hanamaru’s.

Hanamaru stared at the fuzzy CRT screen for a few seconds as the words “VICTORY!” flashed up in front of her once again, the reality of what she was looking at slowly dawning on her. Once it fully set in, though, she threw her arms up into the air in celebration, getting the biggest smile on her face.

“I DID IT, ZURA!” she loudly declared, causing You to grin just as widely.

“See?” she said, moving all the way over and tossing her arm around Hanamaru’s shoulders. “I told ya you could do it.”

“Let’s go again!” Hanamaru urged, furiously tapping the start button on her controller as she rode out the wave of excitement and adrenaline she was feeling. “I bet I can do it again, zura!”

“Okay, but I’m warning you!” You replied. “I’m not gonna go easy on you!” Not this time, at least. Letting Hanamaru win once was probably enough.


	36. Mari/Ruby

Ruby had always been a fan of early mornings. There was something magical about that hour or so before the rest of the world started to wake up, when Uchiura was still silent save for the dull hum of waves and the occasional passing car or truck that had started its day as early as she had. She had never been the sort of person who could sit still once the sun was up, and half the time she didn’t even make it that far. In the colder months, when the sun waited longer to rise, Ruby often found herself waking before it. She didn’t mind that, though. It gave her time to tiptoe out of the house, careful not to wake Dia, before walking down to the beach and watching the sunrise over the water. It was always chilly, and she would have to bring a coat, or sometimes just drag the blanket straight off her bed and wear it like a cloak, but that didn’t bother her either. If anything, it just helped her to wake up.

Ruby was standing on the beach like she had so many times before, though this time she hadn’t ended up there by accident. She was more dressed up than she normally would have been- instead of pajamas and blanket or a jacket, she was wearing a proper winter coat, leggings and a skirt, boots, even gloves. Her hands were stretched out in front of her, resting on the handle of a wheelie suitcase while she watched her breath curl up in front of her, illuminated by the first hints of sunlight that were just starting to break over the distant horizon.

“Ruby-chaaaaaan!” Ruby’s lips curled up into a smile when she heard the noise she had been waiting for, and as she looked back down the beach she saw Mari approaching her, waving her arm through the air enthusiastically. She was dressed similarly, decked out in her most fashionable winter gear, though she seemed to have gone a bit harder with luggage than Ruby had. She was dragging two suitcases behind her, and had another bag slung over her shoulder. “There you are! I hope I didn’t keep my precious little darling waiting too long!”

“You didn’t,” Ruby giggled, shaking her head. Or rather, Mari had, but only because Ruby had intentionally gotten to their rendezvous point early. She had wanted some time to herself before launching into what was sure to be a very busy day. The first of many.

“Good! I would never be able to forgive myself if I left you standing out here in the cold for hours on end!” As Mari spoke she came up behind Ruby, tossing her arms around her girlfriend’s shoulders, which caused Ruby to laugh even more. Mari’s hands dangled by Ruby’s chest, and Ruby reached up to take them in her own.

“How soon do we have to get going?” Ruby asked.

“Hmm? Soon enough,” Mari replied. “But we have a little bit of time. You already told Dia you’re leaving, right?”

“Mhmm. Well… I left her a note,” Ruby admitted, giggling softly. She had a feeling Dia would require quite a bit of pestering and persuading and bargaining before she was alright with Mari sweeping Ruby up and carrying her off to Europe for a week, especially when she still hadn’t quite seemed to have come to terms with having her best friend date her little sister in the first place. And sure, leaving Dia a note that simply said she would be back in a week with no warning would probably get both herself and Mari quite a talking to when they got back, but hey. It was easier to ask forgiveness than permission, right?

“You left her a note?” Mari repeated, letting out an extremely exaggerated gasp. “Ruby-chan! You didn’t tell me I would be turning you into a fugitive! Smuggling you across the border without Dia-san’s permission, escaping under the cover of night! I had no idea what I was getting myself into!”

“But you’ll still take me, right?” Ruby asked, laughing along with her girlfriend’s little performance.

“ _ Of course! _ ” Mari replied, in her typical accented English. “But now that I know this, we’ll have to be more careful about it! We’ll have to take a different route to the airport than normal, and I might have to stuff you in my suitcase just to get you through security! Do you think you could fit, Ruby-chan?”

“I’m not  _ that _ tiny,” Ruby huffed. This time Mari laughed in response, falling silent after a moment while she followed Ruby’s gaze out over the water. Mari was more accustomed to seeing this sort of thing from the opposite end, staying up until the early hours of the morning, but either way she could appreciate the beauty of the sunrise as it gradually grew more and more pronounced over the surface of the ocean. They settled into a comfortable silence, staying that way for a minute or so before Ruby spoke up again. “Hey… Mari-chan?”

“Hmm? Is something the matter,  _ bella _ ?”

“Do you think there’s anything for me to be nervous about?” The question seemed to surprise Mari, causing her to tilt her head off to the side.

“Hmm? We’re going on vacation, Ruby-chan! What could you possibly have to worry about?”

“Well… Going somewhere I’ve never gone before,” Ruby replied. “Sneaking off like this. Flying on a plane without onee-chan. It seems like a lot of scary stuff happening all at once…” she admitted, squeezing onto Mari’s hands a little more tightly as she spoke. Mari didn’t respond right away, and even once Ruby finished speaking she was still scrunching her face up thoughtfully, trying to figure out how to respond. But then, rather suddenly, Ruby felt Mari lifting one of her hands up over her head, using it to twirl her around like a ballroom dancer. Everything happened in a blur of motion, so quickly that Ruby didn’t even know how to process it until she suddenly found herself facing Mari, getting dipped back by an arm around her waist. She squeaked out as she found herself falling backwards, though it quickly became clear that Mari wouldn’t actually drop her.

“Was that scary?” Mari asked.

“H-Huh?” Ruby stammered back.

“When I almost just dropped you. Was that scary?”

“A little, yeah…”

“But how do you feel now?” Ruby blinked a few times when Mari asked the question, before realization set in, and a large smile stretched over her face.

“Happy,” she replied. “Excited. It was fun.”

“See? There’s nothing for you to be worried about.” Ruby laughed again, reaching her arms up and draping them around Mari’s neck, and it was obvious enough to Mari what her girlfriend wanted. She let herself get pulled down the rest of the way, pressing her lips against Ruby’s right there on the middle of the beach. They were warm, a pleasant contrast to the winter air, and Mari found herself holding there for just a little bit longer than she otherwise would have before she finally pulled away. Ruby was still smiling once she did, cheeks flushing a little in the cold.

“Thank you,” she said softly.

“Anything for my dearest Ruby-chan,” Mari replied. “We should probably get going now, hmm?” Ruby nodded in agreement, and Mari helped right her again before letting go, walking over to gather her bags up. Ruby grabbed her own, walking up alongside Mari. Before they left Mari looked back towards Uchiura, giving the town one last look.

“Will you miss it?” Ruby asked.

“We won’t be gone for long,” Mari replied. “Everything will still be the same when we come back.” She looked over at that point to find Ruby staring out at the town alongside her, and Mari reached down, giving Ruby’s hand a small squeeze to get her attention. “Ready, babe?”

“Mhmm,” Ruby replied, looking back towards Mari. “I’m ready.”

“Then let’s go!” Mari declared, letting go of Ruby’s hand before taking off down the beach at an alarming pace. “Ganbaruby!”

“H-Hey!” Ruby called out, scrambling to chase after her. “You can’t say that! That’s mine!”

“Theeeeen, Ganbamari!”

“Mari-chan! That doesn’t even make sense!”

“It doesn’t have to! Ganbamari!”

“Ganbaruby!”

“Ganbamari!”

“Ganbaruby!”

“Ganbamariiiii!”

“Ganbarubyyyy!” The two of them kept at that for quite some time, laughing and shouting back and forth as they ran down the beach towards the train station. By the time they were done they had probably woken up half the people in Uchiura, but that was alright. They already had a scolding waiting for them when they got back anyway. Why not add a few more onto the pile?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap! 36 pairings over 35k words and 8 months, it's crazy to be at the end looking back now and seeing how far this work came. I definitely discovered some ships I didn't know I shipped along the way, and hopefully you all have too! I wanna give a massive thanks to everyone who's taken the time to read this work. Whether you've looked through every chapter or just picked out your favorites, and whether you've been here since the beginning or just hopped on near the end, I'm always so incredibly appreciative of anyone who takes the time to read, bookmark, or leave kudos or comments. The Love Live fandom has a special place in my heart as one of my favorites to write for, not just because I love the show so much, but because y'all devour fic like no other fandom I've ever seen, so that made this an especially enjoyable project to work on. If you've enjoyed what you've read here and want to see more, both from Love Live and from other fandoms as well, feel free to check me out at alex-is-a-writer.tumblr.com! Once again, thank you so, so much to everyone for reading, and I hope to see you all around again in the future!


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